Gun's Blazing On This Wonderful World
by Mr.Snarker
Summary: Whose idea was it to bring guns and military equipment to the fantasy world of sword and magic? Well, apparently it's the idea of a certain young man with too much free time in his hand and a hype to a certain World War I game before his last moment. What could've gone wrong?
1. Prologue

Okay, hello again to those who know me from my other fic, and yo to those who don't! I wrote this fic to regain my 'drive' to write as you know that my latest(not this one) fic is on a HIATUS no thanks to writer blocks, irl stuff, and lack of motivation. Let's just hope I can regain it to write that fic again.

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Prologue**

On A Certain Fortress

"Ah crap, they're coming here earlier than I expected. But it's going to be all the same, I guess." I clicked my tongue after seeing the spectacle before me using the binocular in my hand.

There, around one kilometer, monsters, and demons of various race gathered and currently preparing themselves to charge toward this fort. From what I can see, there's apparently around a hundred thousands of them coming here from mere weak beast to those high-class monsters. Normally, the best course of action is to evacuate and abandon this fort to avoid unnecessary death, but we can't really do that right now.

Now, now, it's not like I want to be a hero in this situation and honestly, a mere dime in a dozen adventurer like me should know better than to get involved with this crap. But even the coward and lazy me would act if it's in my interest, no, more like there's someone behind this fort I needed to protect.

Especially if I have the power to do so.

"Sir Kazuma! Our cannons and the so-called AA-guns are ready!"

Looking at the source of the voice, I saw an old geezer standing beside a cannon.

"Good, do as I said in the practice and we'll get through this in one piece, geezer. And don't add Sir, I'm not that old yet!"

Looking around me, I can see many cannons and Anti-Aircraft gun being stationed around the top of this fort along with several archers while below on the ground, several barbed wires being set to force them to enter through the fort's entrance.

If this is going all according to the plan, It'll be an overkill while if it's not... Well, at least they'll still be surprised with this.

While imagining the scene that might unfold in either scenario, a voice called out to me.

"Kazuma! Hey, Kazuma!"

"Yes, yes, I'm Kazuma. What is it now?"

Beside me, stood a girl wearing something that screams out loud the word 'witch' consisting of robe, cone shaped hat, and carrying a staff. The truth is, that isn't quite correct as to be more specific, she is a genuine Arch-magician. Though, the unnecessary eyepatch covering her left eye screams something else which I don't want to be reminded with.

"What are you exactly wearing?" She said while pointing at my attire.

A green shirt covered by a green military jacket, green pants, green greatcoat, and the only not green thing about it is my boots, which is black. Consisting of those, it can be said that what I'm wearing is a military uniform. More specifically, the military uniform that the World War I soldier wore.

"How many times do I need to tell you that this i-"

 _FWOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM_

And before I can retort to her, the sound of a horn being blown came from the direction of those hordes.

"Zip it for now, we've got a situation."

Using my binocular, I observe their incoming stamped- no, attack due to some of those came by flying toward this fort.

'Here they come, eh?'

Putting down my binocular, I took out a flare gun and point it upward.

[GRRRRRRRRAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!]

As they advance forward from the forest to the plains between this fort and the forest, their roars and war-cry can already be heard.

500 meters

400 meters

300 meters

250 meters

Got you.

" _Feuer!_ "

DUFFFFF!

At the same time of my order, I fired the flare gun.

Like the second sun rising up above, the flare's light became the prelude of what to come.

 _THOOM! THOOM! THOOM!_

 _BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

That explosion immediately removed the word 'war' from war-cry as they began panicking and trying to turn their tails when they saw their comrade being annihilated before their very eyes. While there are those that still stupidly charge forward, they along with those in the sky that didn't get hit by the bombardment from our cannon, by the time they entered the range of the AA guns and archers, their life was already forfeit.

The bombardment continues for several minutes until we can no longer hear any noise from the monsters.

After ceasing our bombardment, by the time the dust settled and silence encompassed the area, the plains before us was filled with craters, corpses, severed limbs, and blood everywhere, and there are also some monsters missing their lower body trying to crawl away only to succumb to its grievous injury.

Using my binocular again, I observe the plains and the forest for several minutes while holding my breath in anticipation of anything that might happen. The last thing I want is to trigger a stupid flag in this kind of situation after all.

Confirming that there's no reinforcement, another wave of attack, or boss-like being coming here, I finally declared:

"We won!"

""UOOOOOOOOOOOOO!""

Following my declaration, everyone shouted in joy. Why not? We've got no casualties and those monsters will now think twi- no, thrice before trying to organize an invasion.

But seriously, I would never imagine that I became a commanding officer of a fortress equipped with weapons from my world in this fantasy-esque world. Then again, I never in my wildest dream imagining that my life after death would be a migration to the other world.

Let's get back a little bit further, no, scratch that, to the beginning of things.

* * *

-o-

* * *

A Few Months Earlier

My name is Satou Kazuma, I'm 16 years old and I'm currently sitting in front of my computer inside my room, playing my usual favorite kind of game, a fantasy RPG.

Beside my computer desk lies many bottles of beverages and several cups of instant noodles.

Simply said, I'm a shut-in and NEET.

You must be wondering why I'm wasting my life like this despite just being a 16 years old, huh?

Then, let me tell you about a sad story of an innocent boy in love.

Two years ago, there's a boy, for convenience sake, let's call him SK.

SK since his childhood has a gentle girl he befriended and that feeling friendship soon turned into a love.

During the middle-school, SK finally musters up his courage to confess to said girl.

And that's where the tragedy happened.

Said childhood friend rejects him while laughing at him before saying that she already has a boyfriend who is a delinquent and while saying that, there's no longer any trace of the gentle girl she was anymore.

At that moment, his heart broke and the only escapism he could find is in the game which turned him into a shut-in and eventually turned into NEET due to no longer attending to his school.

The only luck he has is the fact that his parents still have a hope in him and not disown him(not yet).

So what's the point of that story?

I'm the said boy.

And now I'm depressed for remembering that again.

*PING*

-You have a new notification-

As I'm wallowing in the pits of despair and depression, I sluggishly move the cursor of my mouse to click on the notification.

-B*ttlef*eld 1 released-

Another fps game? I kinda wished it'd be another RPG instead of this. But oh well, taking a peek wouldn't hurt.

'A game about World War I?'

Well, there's barely any World War I type of game in the world, so might as well give it a try.

Let's just hope it's not the usual too fast paced shooting game without much strategy metagame or else screw this.

A Few Days Later...

It's just four days after I bought and played the game and now I've turned into a gun enthusiast regarding World War I related military equipment.

Browsing through the internet to see various kinds of weapons, combat vehicle, military, tactics and even history about World War I, I found out that many stuff in the game were almost spot on(except the existence of machine gun, sub-machine gun, and light machine gun totting knight in armor despite being an Arditi or Germany's Zeppelin flying too low for flak cannon to hit).

In the end, I've got a new interest in something else than 2D girls.

Grumble Grumble

'Ah crap, I'm hungry.'

Muttering that to myself, I leave my throne(chair) to grab myself some instant cup noodles to eat... Only to find that I forgot to stock it due to these four days of fervor in reading up those World War I stuff.

Looking around the house, I noticed that everyone is out and oh how convenient, the fridge's empty as if giving me a finger to my expectation of any kinds of meal.

Damn it, like it or not I must get out and buy myself another stock of cup noodles or I'll die from starvation.

Wearing my track suit, I leave the house with nearest convenience store as my destination.

While walking toward the place, I conveniently passed by an alley and saw it.

Just five days ago I reminiscing about this shit and now it appears in front of me.

Three delinquent pricks with my former childhood friend in an alley and it appear that she is going to get fucked, literally.

Hmm, what should I do in this situation?

A. Save her

Nah, she brought this to herself by choosing those pricks, serves her right.

B. Join the act

Ugh, why do I even think of this?

C. Call the police

Okay, although it might be too late by then, but at least I'm not going to have a guilty conscience of having let someone get raped and do nothing about it.

Yosh, I have decided!

"Ah! Kazuma-kun, help me!"

Great, before I can go through with my plan, she noticed me and called me out.

Reacting to that, I inadvertently turned to look at them only to earn the glare of those pricks.

"Hou, ain't that's the wimp you rejected two years ago, eh?" Said the bald prick.

"Please help me, Kazuma-ku-*PAKKK!*KYAA!"

She was interrupted at the end by the mohawk prick slapping her face.

"Hey, wimpy, the girl's that dumped ya, how bout we rape er together, eh? Not bad for venting yer anger at her, right?" This time, it's the spiky prick who said that.

Did I really just being offered with the second option of 'what should I do in this situation' question?

"Uh, while that sounds really tempting, I, uh, need to buy something to eat because I'm hungry." I stuttered while backing myself away slowly.

"Really? Then why do I feel that you're going to tell this to the police?"

"Is that so? Then, let us 'assure' him to not tell this to the police." The bald prick muttered dangerously.

That's it, time to bail out.

"Get him!" The mohawk prick yelled, well, to me, it's a signal to bail out ASAP.

"Are you kidding me!? Leave me alone!" Screaming those words, I ran as fast as I can.

Seriously, why must this troublesome thing happened to me!?

I'm running as fast as I can, but as if the goddess of fortune shits on me, I got cornered in a dead end.

"Gah!"

With a simple kick to my chest, they blew the air out of my lungs as I fell to the ground.

"Let's beat the shit out of this wimp!"

It didn't take long for them to kick, punch, and spit at me with gusto as if I'm a punching bag.

"GUAAHHHHHHHHH! Stop it! Help me!" Screaming in pain due to my ribs just now being broken, they took delight in it and intensify their assault.

With such distraction(me being beaten to the inch of my life), my former childhood friend leave the place and by the time these pricks satisfied with torturing me, they finally noticed her disappearance. What a bunch of morons.

And the next thing I know is that the bald prick took out a knife before my vision slowly darken till I blacked out.

* * *

-o-

* * *

By the time I regain my consciousness...

"Satou Kazuma-san, welcome to the after-life. Unfortunately, you have died. It might be short, but your life is over."

Someone suddenly spoke to me in a pure white room.

In the room was a set of office desk and chair, and the one who announced that my life was over sat in that chair.

If there was a goddess, she must be it.

Her beauty was beyond the idols shown on television, she had glamor that surpassed humans.

Her long blue hair looked silky smooth.

She seemed to be about my age.

She wasn't too busty or too lacking. She had a light purple hagoromo draped over her clothes.

The beauty blinked her eyes which were the same aqua blue color of her hair, staring at me who didn't know what's going on. Or maybe staring at me who didn't know where I am.

Even through such weird situation, I managed to mutter out a "What?"

In response, she merely points her finger to me and a projection appeared in front of me, playing the scene of me who stumbled upon a scene of someone almost being raped, being chased, being beaten to the inch of my life(I grimaced while watching through this part), and finally my throat and chest got stabbed in the end.

3

2

1

"I'M REALLY DEAD!?"

In response to my loud shout, the girl flinched.

"Must you really scream like so, you damned NEET? It's just after-life! There's no big deal about it, you little f*ck!"

Surprisingly, the girl whose beauty is comparable to a goddess has a dirty mouth.

"Who wouldn't be!?"

"Ahem, it seems like I've shown you something unsightly, so you must die. Oh right, I'm sorry, you're already dead."

If this is really after-life and my body should only merely be a spirit, then I wonder how can I feel the veins on my forehead popped from her insult?

"Let me get this straight, I died and now you as the grim reaper will send me to either hell or heaven? Is this that kind of situation?"

Now it's her turn to have a vein popped on her forehead.

"Grim reaper!? How dare you call this beautiful goddess Aqua that guides young people who die in Japan a grim reaper!"

"Well, where will you be guiding me then?"

"There's two option. First would be reincarnating and beginning a new life. The other option would be staying in a place sort of like heaven and live the life similar to an old folk home."

"Old folk home?"

"Yes, heaven isn't as great as you humans imagined. You don't need to eat after dying and won't be able to make anything naturally. There aren't any ingredients or necessities for you to use anyway. I am sorry if I disappointed you, but there is nothing in heaven. No television, no manga and no games, there are only other people who died before you. And since you are dead, you can't do anything kinky, you can't since you don't even have a body. The only thing you can do is bask in the sun with your predecessors and chat. Forever and ever."

I don't think such place can be considered a heaven. More like a hell instead.

But to become a baby and restart my life...

No, that was the only option.

But still, what a pain. Why can't I, at the most least, be like Rud*uS Gr*yr*t from M*sh*ku T*ns*i?

Looking at my disappointed expression, the goddess smiled and said:

"Hey, you don't want to go to a boring place like heaven right? But asking you to let go of all your memories and start again as a baby is the same as erasing your existence since your memories will be gone. And so! I have great news for you."

"I kinda feel there's something fishy about this."

Responding to my skepticism, she turned into Mrs. Exposition and explained everything about the alternate option. To simplify it into few points:

\- The new world is a sword and magic fantasy world

\- Every reincarnated person will be presented the option of carrying a 'gift' or cheat item to that world to ease their journey/adventure for defeating the demon king

\- If one of those reincarnated people somehow killed the demon king, he/she will have their wishes granted

I could only facepalm myself when I heard that the good news is reincarnating my body before my death and keep my memory intact stems from the fact that it's allowed due to how inhabitants of that world are too scared to die twice and prefer to go to heaven rather than reincarnating back, resulting in the sharp decline of human race in that world. But well, as stupid as everything sounds, reincarnating into a fantasy-like world won't be a bad thing, right? Like Rude*s Gr*yrat for example.

"Have you decided?"

"Fine, I'll take this option."

"Hey, why do I feel like you're not really motivated with this?"

"No, more like what I think of such option as 'too good to be true' or a 'monkey's paw', but it turns out to be a stupid truth."

"Are you implying that I would tell you a lie?" She dangerously muttered while narrowing her eyes at me.

Stop it, that isn't scary at all and your gaze can't kill me unless you're a gorgon.

"Here!" She threw something at me.

Grabbing it, I see that it's a catalog.

"What's this?"

"Choose your power from that list or if you have something else on your mind, tell me as long as it's not a retarded power like some idiot back then requested while I'm drawing the teleportation magic circle."

Uh-huh?

Browsing through the catalog, I saw many names of legendary weapons like Excalibur, Arondight, Balmung, etc, there's also powers like Unlimited Blade Works, Gate of Babylon, Limit Break, etc but there are also some, well, to quote that goddess, 'retarded power' like Earthshaking Vibrator, Unbreakable Dildo, Unlimited F*ck Works, etc.

Well, what should I bring?

Ah yeah, before I died I have an interest to 'that'!

"Ah, I have decided."

"Which one?" She asked while continuing to draw the magic circle.

"Military Equipment Creation." I said with a triumphant look on my face.

"There, done." She replied blandly.

Despite being said that it's done, I don't feel any different. Noticing my puzzled expression, she said:

"It'll work once you're in that world, don't worry about it. At best the side effect would be you having no power at all and at worst dying." She said nonchalantly while clapping her hands to remove the dust as she finished drawing the magic circle.

"Hey, did you just said at best I'll be useless at worst I'll die in case a complication happened?"

"I didn't."

"You did."

"Tee hee."

"Don't 'tee hee' me!"

Why did I perform a tsukkomi-boke slapstick with her?

"Well then, time to send you off."

"Wait a second, I seem to forget something important when starting an adventure. Ah! That's it! My starting money and equipment."

"Your equipment will be that clothes of yours unless you're dying naked we won't provide any clothing unless you'd like to wear a toga and the basic money is this." She said while pointing at a pouch in her left hand that came out of nowhere. Probably magic.

"Fine, I'll ta-"

Before I could grab it, she moved the pouch away.

"Hey."

Trying to grab it again, the same thing happened.

"Hey, please give me that starting money."

"Don't call me 'hey', say 'please give me starting money, goddess Aqua-sama.'"

Is this goddess serious?

"Fine, please give me my starting money, goddess Aqua."

Reaching for the pouch that's being held in her left hand, she did it again.

"What now?"

"You forgot to add -sama, so as the punishment, you must say 'Ah, the most beautiful goddess Aqua-sama, please give this unworthy pig his share' while groveling and licking my shoes, plebeian. Then, I'll give you this starting money."

"Why you little-"

Not accepting her insolent attitude, I tackled her and struggling to snatch the pouch from her, both of us not realizing the magic circle below us is starting to glow rather brightly. Also, we didn't notice another person who entered the room.

"Aqua-senpai, the elder wants you to report to- Aqua-senpai!?"

With her exclamation, we finally noticed her presence, a beautiful silver haired girl who looks like an angel appeared! Scratch that, since this is after-life, she might be the real deal angel.

"Oh, it's you. Hey, get off of me, you knavish NEET!"

"Give me my starting money then! And who's that beauty over there!?"

"That's my kohai, Eris. Hey, you fake boobed kohai goddess, help me over here!"

 _CRACK_

"F-F-Fake B-Boobed?" The poor girl stuttered.

"Gimme my starting money and why do I feel that I hear the sound of glass cracking? AHHHHHHH!"

"What are you screaming for- AAAAAAAA!"

"Ah, Aqua-senpai!"

The reason why the three of us screamed was because the magic circle did its job of transferring those within its range, namely me and that damn annoying goddess.

Meanwhile unknown to me, back in the real world, those who killed me were all arrested and I was considered a hero(despite not wanting to due to the identity of the person I saved). But that is another story.

To Be Continued...

A/N : Alright, that's the beginning of this story and as you can see, this story will be rife with humor more than my previous KonoSuba fic(for obvious reason of anything that relates to Nasuverse will usually have a serious/dark turn/plot) and the divergence from canon will be much earlier as well. As always, please Rate & Review and peace out everybody, see you in the next chapter!


	2. Mein Kampf in der Neuwelt

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 1 : Mein Kampf in der Neuwelt**

""WAAAAAAA!"" Both of us yelled out due to the situation we're in right now.

After we were engulfed by the light from that magic circle, the next thing I knew was that we're free-falling down in a space filled with myriads of colors that keep changing every second, probably due to the fact that both of us instead of me alone that's being transferred. I wonder if this is what those people feeling when they're taking LSD.

Not too long after that, everything suddenly turned black.

""Eh?"" Both of us muttered dumbly.

Then the light returned abruptly along with strong wind? blowing to my face.

Looking around, I found out why.

We're free-falling from the sky to the ground.

With no parachute nor any sign of our fall slowing down.

"AAAAAA! We're gonna dieeeeeeeee!"

"WAAAA! This was all your fault, you stupid NEET!"

"No! It's all your fault, you stupid goddess! I'm gonna die again because of you! WAAAAAAAA! And I'm still virgin to boot!"

"Hey, what's up with that sudden cry!? You seriously disgust me!"

While bickering about stupid things, our distance to the ground rapidly shorten without any pause and soon enough, we can see where we'll be landing(dying) at.

""AAAAAAAAAAAA!"" As our body getting closer to the ground, we screamed while closing our eyes, waiting for the sweet release of death and rather reluctant to see our last moment.

Then, the strong gust of the wind that I felt suddenly disappeared.

And yet, why do I feel no pain? Could it be that I'm already dead again? Am I going to after-afterlife?

Slowly opening my eyes, what greeted my sight was the ground. No, more exactly, few centimeters above the ground.

"Eh? Am I alive? GOHE!?"

After saying that, my body that levitates few centimeters dropped down with a thud.

Dusting myself off the dust from the fall, I looked at the surrounding and found out that we're in a forest.

Beside me, that stupid goddess comically lying spread-eagle on the ground, face down.

Is she alive?

Taking a branch from the ground, I poke her body to confirm my suspicion.

"Hey~ Are you alive?"

 _Poke Poke_

 _Suru Suru~_

Twitching about, apparently, she is alive.

"W-where am I?" She muttered while groaning.

Slowly getting up, she looks around as if in a stupor and frantically mumbling 'this must be a dream' multiple times.

Then she saw me.

"YOU!"

All hell broke loose as she pounced me and throwing her punches.

Kindly replying her attack, I countered back and it didn't take long for us to roll on the ground just like how kids would fight.

After few minutes went by, a pillar of light suddenly came from the sky to the ground nearby us.

Temporarily pausing our fight, we covered our eyes until the blinding light that came along with it died down.

As I open my eyes, I saw the beautiful girl that came before me and this stupid goddess got tangled up in that teleportation, but why did she seem so transparent?

"Aqua-senpai, Kazuma-san, are you two saf-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence when she looked at us.

'What's wrong?'

The answer to my unasked question was answered by what I saw.

Right now, I'm on top of this stupid goddess while both of us are breathing roughly(from earlier bout) and both of our clothing are ruffled(again, from our earlier bout). It instantly dawned upon me about what she interpret about this situation.

In order to avoid the misunderstanding, I yelled out loud:

""This isn't what it looks like!""

A~re? Why did this stupid goddess join in?

"Okay..." The beautiful girl muttered with a sweatdrop.

After dusting off ourselves from the dirt caused by our fight, the figure, as it turns out, a hologram of Eris the goddess of fortune sent by Eris herself to check on us starts explaining about our situation.

"Kazuma-san, I am very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the error in teleporting you. I'm glad that I could barely save you and Aqua-senpai from the fall."

"Ah, you don't have to apologize, Eris-sama. In fact, this goddess here should be the one apologizing." Scratching the back of my head, I told her my earnest feeling.

"What!? It's your fault we're in this mess, so you're the one who should apologize for troubling this Aqua-sama! Wait, why are you so easily called her with -sama while I'm not!?" Spreading both her legs and folding her arms while acting high and might like that, I'm truly perplexed on how could she be a goddess... Probably that's precisely why she's a goddess since there's many gods or goddesses like her in Greek mythology, but still, I digress.

"Ah yes, Aqua-senpai, I have a message for you from the heaven's council."

"They're sending you to retrieve me, right?" She said with a triumphant look.

"No, actually-

Haha, they must be deciding to punish her, right? Serves her right for that attitude!

-the council decides that since it's your fault for getting transferred to this world and for almost killing a 'gifted' person sent to try to stop the demon king, you must support him until the demon king is defeated by him before you can go back and Kazuma-san, you also must take care of her. If Aqua-senpai dies before defeating the demon king, you'll lose your 'gift'." Said Eris nervously.

""WHAT!?""

Both of us exclaimed.

For Aqua, why should she tag along with the youth who made her facing this kind of predicament?

For me, this is a punishment instead of a blessing. Not only I have to take care of this annoying goddess, my life here was completely linked with her.

In the end, both of us had reached a common understanding that the heaven's council are full of d*cks.

"You can't be serious right!? Hey, my kohai, take me back to the heaven! I command you as your senpai!"

"I'm sorry, Aqua-senpai, but this is their decision and I can't disobey them. And for Kazuma-san, there's a town nearby this forest at the east, since it's already noon, I suggest you go there as soon as possible.

Then, may luck be with you." With nervous tone, she muttered that before her hologram disappeared.

"Ah..." Aqua muttered lifelessly.

Although I really shouldn't, but I kinda feel bad for her, a minuscule bit.

"H-Hey."

Trying to call her out, she didn't respond at all. To add the creepiness of the situation, her bangs completely covered her eyes which are empty and she keeps muttering 'Why?' in a monotone voice over andover again.

If someone stumbled upon her right now, in this forest, I wouldn't blame them if they run away for thinking that they met a ghost.

Well, there's no time to linger around here forever, so I better get going like what Eris-sama suggested.

"Hey, let's get going. Let's think about the future later."

"Huh?" She replied while her bangs parted, revealing that her eyes regained their color back.

And that color somehow turned to fire as she pounced at me. Again.

Stepping to the side, her pounce missed and she fell face first on the ground.

As if that doesn't enough to sate her anger, she prepared herself for another pounce.

"Seriously, stop with this stupidity."

"Stupidity!? I can't go back because of you and I have to follow you around until you defeat the demon king for who knows when! What am I going to do? The future is bleak."

Whoa, she cried in panic.

Now I feel a little bit like an A-hole.

"Sheesh, calm down a little bit. First, let's go to the town and find the tavern for information, find a place to live, and when we're ready, going on an adventure/journey to defeat the demon king. Besides, the so-called 'gift' I requested will be very potent in this world and you are also a goddess, right? It's just the matter of time about the defeat of demon king by us." Explaining that with confidence, I personally think what I said is too much as the latter two might be rather hard for a hikikomori and NEET like me and I might regret praising her.

Listening to my word, her panicked expression instantly changed into a smug expression.

"Ohhh! That's right! I wonder why a hikikomori and NEET like you could have a good thinking? Ah, by the way, you may call me Aqua, be honored. But you can also call me goddess, though that will cause a problem as people will worship me and all which will hinder the effort to defeat the demon king. Ahh~ being a goddess sure is tough~."

Okay, I DO regret praising her and I really want to retort her arrogant statement, but I don't want to have another stupid fight and risk something bad happened when the night came.

With Aqua following from behind, I headed to the town like Eris-sama instructed.

* * *

-o-

* * *

The Town of Beginner, Axel Town

Arriving at the town Eris-sama told me, I was greeted by the unbelievable scene before me.

Before my eyes were houses built from red bricks, the streets right out of Europe in the Middle Ages.

There were no cars, bikes, power lines or telecommunication cables.

I looked around the street, watching the people passing by.

There are animal eared girls! Nekomimi, Usagimimi, Inumimi, and more. Ah, is that an elf!? That beautiful nee-san is definitely an elf!

"Whoa, this is truly another world! Am I seriously going to be involved in this fantasy world? Hello new world, I will definitely work hard in this world. And f*ck you, old world." I internally monologuing.  
Somehow after my inner monolog, people looked at me as if I am a weirdo.

"Good grief, I know you are a hikikomori and NEET, but must you need to say what you thought out loud like a moron just because you're overexcited?"

Eh?

Apparently, my inner monolog wasn't so internal.

"Shit." I cursed.

"What?"

"Nothing. More importantly, if you are a goddess, you could answer all my question, right?"

"Huhu, of course."

"Where's the adventurer guild?"

"Ah, eh, um..."

Alright, she's useless.

While thinking to ask someone, a voice called us out.

"Hey kid, you're new here?"

Turning around, I saw an old man who sold fruits in a stall.

Might as well as to ask him.

"Ah yes, could you tell me where the adventurer guild located?"

"Are you people adventurer visiting this town?"

"No, we're from a distant land and we came here to be an adventurer."

It's not a lie despite it being a clever way to cover the fact that I came from another world while Aqua came from the realm of gods.

"Ah, a newbie eh? Go to the main road and turn right, you'll find it unless you're blind."

"Ah, thank you very much."

"Don't sweat it, kid. May Eris bless ya with luck in being an adventurer."

"Thank you again... And hey, Aqua, let's go."

Dragging Aqua who is still mumbling to herself, we headed to the adventurer guild.

* * *

-o-

* * *

Adventurer Guild

A place for adventurers to take up jobs, which was a staple in games, an organization that supported the adventurers a.k.a the job agency version of this world.

There was a rather large establishment before them and the fragrance of food drifted from within.

Probably there are some troublesome people inside, but let's just hope for the best.

After preparing myself mentally and entering…

"Ah, welcome~ Please approach the counter if you looking for jobs. If you are here to dine, please take any empty seat~!"

A waitress with short red hair received us warmly.

The slightly dim interior seemed to double as a bar.

Groups of men in armor could be seen congregating inside, but they didn't seem to bear ill will.

But unfamiliar faces seemed to be rare, everyone was focusing on us.

… I realized why they were looking this way.

"Nah, nah, they are looking this way too blatantly. It must be the holy aura coming from me, they must have found out that I am a goddess."

 _PACHI_

I facepalmed.

The only reason they're looking at you was because of your beauty as long as no words came out of your mouth.

For now, I ignore their gaze and went about my original objective.

Making a beeline for the counter, I see that there are four counter staffs and two of them were female.

Obviously, I queue up at the counter with the prettier lady.

"Hey, the other 3 counters are empty, why are you queuing here? We won't have to wait if we go to another counter… Ah, because this counter staff is the prettiest? Really, I was just a bit impressed and thought that you might be reliable, but you are doing this?"

Aqua who was following me didn't know anything, so I whispered to her quietly:

"Building a good rapport with the guild's counter staff is the basics. And the pretty counter lady definitely had plenty of flags to raise. This means there will be more shocking hidden side quest waiting for us. For example, the counter lady might be a powerful adventurer or something."

"Now that you mentioned it, I saw something similar in a manga. Sorry, I will wait in line obediently."

Idiot or not, at least it's convenient that she stopped complaining about every little thing.

It was finally our turn.

"Good afternoon, how may I help you?"

The counter staff was a gentle beauty.

Her wavy hair and large breasts made her look matured.

"Eh, I want to be an adventurer. I came from far away and didn't know anything…"

If I tell the counter staff I came from the countryside or a far away nation, they will give a more thorough explanation, besides, I'm not lying about it.

"I see. There will be a registration fee, will that be okay?"

That's right, this is the basic tutorial.

I will just need to follow the instruction of the counter staff.

Wait, registration fee?

"Um, excuse me for a moment... Aqua, where's the pouch containing the starting money that you should've given to me?"

Hearing that, she checked every pocket in her clothes - only to find nothing.

"Aqua, did you just lose our only way to register as an adventurer?"

"D-Definitely not! B-But, how about you sell the gun you could make with you 'gift'?"

"No way, if that's the case, then I'm no longer going to be the unique cheat user and if anyone but me possesses the gun and defeats the demon king, wouldn't you end up stuck here forever? Besides, I still don't know how my 'gift' work."

"Guh, that's true, but..."

In our dilemma regarding what to do, the counter staff interrupted with a rather uncomfortable expression. Are~? Did I just break her flag?

"Customer, we can lend you the money to register, but um, please return them in a week or we'll revoke your card and put a bounty on your head."

'You should've told me from the beginning' or 'That kind of punishment is too overboard' that's what I want to retort her with, but it seems unsightly and everyone is looking at us who made a commotion, so I just shut my mouth up.

Following the instruction, I owe the guild 2000 Eris as each registration cost 1000 Eris and 1 Eris = 1 Yen. Then, she explained about how adventurer works.

\- They're jack of all trades, doing any jobs they can

\- Adventurer possesses level(just like a game character), the way to gain a level is by killing or eating any creature as all creature contains soul which equates to experience point. Again, just like a game. butwith the addition of a morbid implication that we eat souls.

\- Adventurers are divided by multiple jobs they can choose based on their abilities and each class is unique in their own ways.

\- Every adventurer has an adventurer card with the function of displaying your level, abilities, money, exp. points, and stat.

"Here's your adventurer card, please fill in as much as you can, but weight, height, and age are mandatory. When you're done, please touch the card and I'll check it and give you the suggestion of what class to choose."

After following all the instruction, here comes the evaluation.

"Alright, let's see here. Hmm? Satou Kazuma-san. Your strength, vitality, and magic are average, intelligence, agility, and speed are slightly above average, and finally luck is very high. I'd suggest you to either become an arc- Arere?"

At the end of her explanation, no, she was cut in the middle of her explanation as if she found something weird about my card.

"Yes?"

"Satou Kazuma-san, have you registered at the different branch of adventurer guild and lost your card?"

"Huh? It's my first time coming here, what's wrong with it?"

Without telling me anything, she shows me the problem. Namely, my Job.

There, on the column of the job, what should usually be filled by the word adventurer, it's-

Name: Satou Kazuma

Age: 16

Height: 165 cm

Weight: 55 kg

Job: Militärbeauftragter

Knowing a little bit of Germany from looking through their history regarding the World War I, that word means Military Officer, and she told me that never in her life that she saw a job like that.  
It took a while to convince her that I'm not tricking her about my job and then checking with the guild database to ensure that I'm really a beginner instead of a fraud, she seems to bought it after realizing that apparently she couldn't do anything regarding my situation and apologizing to me that I'm stuck in an unknown job with no way to change it.

I expect something amazing from her since she's a goddess, but found something outrageous instead.

If my commotion is like a breeze, hers is like a storm.

While the only great thing about me is my luck stat, she's the opposite of mine with the absurd stat in everything but intelligence and luck which respectively abysmal.

The guild went rowdy due to congratulating her and all, contrasting the pitying look I got earlier when the counter lady apologizes to me about my own situation.

'Am I really the hero here?'

While the person herself-

Looking at me with a shit-eating grin plastered all over her face as if taunting me, she bragged about it and choose the job of Arch-Priest as her occupation out of the fact that there's no goddess job in the list.

And thus, the beginning of our adventure began-

Three days later...

-or so I thought.

"Kazuma, help me!"

"Although it's slimy and smelly, could you get me out of here? I'll die if this keeps up."

In front of me is two giant toads.

And no, they're not the one speaking.

It came from two figure whose legs sticking out of those toads' mouth and spasming about.

 _PACHI_

I facepalmed.

How did it come to this?

* * *

-o-

* * *

1st day

After registering ourselves at the guild, we borrowed another 1000 Eris to purchase meals before sleeping on the horse stable due to not having any money.

Before I sleep, I checked my adventurer card and found something more surprising other than the fact that I have a strange job: my 'gift.

Unlike the usual ability that was listed under the 'Skill' tab, my gift was listed on the other tab named 'Special Skill' and from my previously pessimistic thinking about not being able to use my 'gift', it describes everything I need to know about it.

Special Skill: Military Equipment Creation

Passive :

\- Military Equipment Creation Magic: Allows the owner of this gift to create any object that fits under the Military Equipment category, the mana cost varies to each type of object, more complex the object is, more mana it'll take.

\- Inherent Knowledge: Allows the owner of this gift to know how to use anything created, enough to be moderately good at it.

\- Efficiency: Any object that was created will cost 25% less mana for the second, third, and so on times. Does not stack on each creation.

\- Realism: This creation magic only allows the creation of real Military Equipment that the user saw in the previous world in its originality. Will not apply to: fictional depiction in any form and inaccurate description.

\- Creator's Will: Allows any creation to disappear if the creator wills it.

Meanwhile, the active one was divided into three parts: Weapon, Vehicle, and Miscellaneous. Small bits of flavor text told me the Miscellaneous cost the least among the three, Weapon at the middle, and Vehicle as the highest(for obvious reason).

Since I don't think I have a large mana capacity, I think I should try to create a pistol as a start.

In my head, a certain pistol appeared in my mind. Outstretching my left arm, I focused on gathering my mana there.

"Trace-" Before I could say finish the chant, I frantically shook my head.

Okay, let's not be a plagiarist here, plagiarism is bad, even more, if the one I imitate is another imitator(faker).

"Creation!" I shouted with my outstreched left arm.

Remembering its name.

Recognizing its form.

Knowing its function.

Then, with a bluish flash of light, the gun I envisioned appeared in my outstretched hand.

Chambering a 9x19mm Parabellum caliber with a good rate of fire and accuracy, it's the infamous Germany's semi-automatic pistol, Luger P08.

Taking out the magazine, I see that it's already loaded with 8 bullets.

'If the gun I made was already loaded, then even if I don't know the correct caliber, just using the loaded bullet's caliber would be fine! Though, what if the bullet that was loaded incompatible?'

Such things go around my head.

Testing out my first theory, I recreate the bullet with the same steps and to my joy, succeeded. But I can't really test the second theory as this is night and a gunfire would awake everyone and caused a problem for me.

Feeling excited with my success, I tried to create a sub-machine gun this time to test how far my mana capacity could take me.

Only for me to suddenly lost my consciousness due to mana depletion before I could even imagine what sub-machine gun I wanted.

* * *

-o-

* * *

2nd day

Today, we've decided to do a quest in order to pay our loans to the guild and officially starts our occupation as an adventurer.

Although the whole fiasco that happened yesterday was unfortunate, but today will be different!

Putting aside the mana problem I had with creating a rifle and choosing to focus on my quest, I equipped myself with a newly created pistol holster for my P08, a combat knife, and a magazine pouch carrying 6 of them, I'm ready to go.

Incidentally, I offered Aqua to use my pistol, but she refused it as she considered it inelegant and not worthy of her.

The quest we've decided to take was to eliminate five giant toads in three days since the pay is good and there's no other hunting quest, we decided to take it.

And we regret it deeply.

When meeting those toads for the first time, I realized once again that this is truly another world as no normal toads would grow to the size of a fucking bull. But still, it's not something to be scared or regretted about.

Opening fire to it on the other hand...

 _BANG!_

With a squishy 'SPLAT' sound, one of the toad lost a third of its head and dropped dead with the content of its brain oozing out.

Killing the last four also went without a hitch, but by the time we're done...

Good news: I don't have to worry about incompatible bullet caliber to my created firearms, bad news:

"Hey Aqua, why are we surrounded by this many giant toads, nee?" I asked while warily observe around twenty giant toads who are slowly approaching us. Apparently, the gunfire sound was probably what brought them here and I'm too busy hunting the other four to the point of not noticing them approaching.

"Mmmph!"

"Aqua, you ther- HEEEE!? How could you get eaten!?"

Right behind me, there's a single giant toad with legs that dangling about sticking out of its mouth and a missing Aqua. Doesn't take long to guess what happened.

After killing the toad and releasing Aqua, we immediately bail out.

Returning back to the guild to retrieve our reward from quest completion, we are standing in line to wait for our turn.

To me, the quest hunting today is a great eye-opener to how I should use my gun more carefully, to pay attention to my surrounding, and to get another party member to guard Aqua or just simply leave her here, but the former isn't going to happen since we're still a starting party while the latter's impossible.

But to Aqua,

"That damned frog dare to eat me, a goddess! Kazuma! Let us take the quest again tomorrow! I will personally let them taste the divine punishment dished by a goddess herself!" She yelled in anger.

"Before saying that, why don't you go take a bath while I confirm the reward?" I said while covering my nose.

Yes, while she's yelling that, her body is still covered by the slimy substance from being swallowed by the toad. And ugh, it smells like a rotten fish!

"Ugu, but I want to know how much we'll be rewarded after the suffering I went through. And I don't want you to lie about it."

"I won't lie to you, I swear, so can you please leave to take a bath? Hey look, that jii-san over there is emptying the content of his stomach after smelling the current you, you know!?"

And yes, thanks to Aqua, the people who usually sat in the middle of the guild to enjoy their meal moved away to the corner that's usually empty just to avoid losing their appetite or worse, emptying the food that they've eaten.

Agreeing to my suggestion, she goes away to take her bath while everyone she passed by covers their nose which only serves to fuel her anger further.

"Mr. Customer over there, it's your turn."

"Ah, yes."

While seeing Aqua off, I didn't know that it's finally my turn.

"I want to confirm the completion of my quest."

"Yes, can I have your adventurer card?"

After giving her my card and waiting for a bit, she gave me the reward money and my adventurer card back.

The amount of money I received is 112,000 Eris after being deducted by my loan. By the way, each giant toad yields the net worth of 5,000 Eris due to transportation fee.

Also, my level increased by 4 and I gained 4 skill point and there are this two shining words on my card, respectively says Blitzkrieg and Scharfschütze.

When I asked the counter lady, she said:

"It must be your job specified skill that shows up, everyone who has a job usually has a skill they can learn after leveling up."

With that, I read the description of each skill.

Blitzkrieg: A passive skill that will give the owner a slight boost in proficiency, accuracy, movement speed, and strength. Requirement: 2 Skill Point, only active when using short - medium ranged firearms.

Scharfschütze: An active skill that allows detection of enemy presence from afar(range depends on the gun), presence concealment, and increased power when using long ranged firearms. The amount of increased power depends on Luck stat and how undetected you are by your target. Requirement: 2 Skill Point, only active when using long ranged firearms, the power increase is a passive effect.  
As I don't have anything else to spend it on, I take both of them.

From those skills, I wonder if I'm going to be a military officer for real in this world? If so, Yay~ My future is strange~

Well, no use for negative thought, let's just go with the flow and hope for the best. With that in mind, I leave for a bath.

When I finished taking a bath, I came to the guild to have dinner and regroup with Aqua to split our share. Nothing much happened after that except both of us returning to the stable to sleep.

I have another plan though.

While Aqua is sleeping, I start my 'training'.

Along with gaining skill point in leveling up, my stat increased a little bit and naturally my mana capacity as well, so I think it's time to try creating another gun. Though, I won't try sub-machine gun as I was immediately knocked out cold before I can even imagine the sub-machine gun. So, I'm going to create a more simple bolt-action rifle.

"Creation!" I chanted as I outstretch my right hand forward.

Following the three steps of creation, I managed to gather a lot of mana to my outstretched hand.

Ugh, I suddenly feel fatigued.

'Creating a pistol didn't take as much as this mana, but I can't stop here, I'm almost done!'

Enduring the feeling of fatigue, I pushed forward.

"UOO!"

With the same light that accompanies my successful creation, a rifle was held in my right hand and obviously due to its weight, I immediately put it down on the floor.

A Mauser Gewehr 1898 fitted with a bayonet and Warner & Swasey Model 1913 Prismatic Musket Scope, a 5.2x magnifier developed for the Springfield M1903 along with the simple two-point leather sling attached. Loaded with the powerful 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge, this rifle can really dish out nasty damage to those foolish or poor enough to be at the end of its scope.

Although I managed to successfully create this rifle, I probably spent around 80-90% of my current level mana capacity just for creating it. No wonder I collapsed yesterday. If a simpler rifle took this much mana to create, how about a more complex weapon like sub-machine gun or machine gun or vehicles or etc...

I have to improve my mana capacity, huh?

With not much mana left for me to try anything else, I create the bullets for my new rifle before going to sleep.

* * *

-o-

* * *

3rd day

After we woke up, we do the usual stuff to prepare for the day. Mainly, preparation for taking the giant toad elimination quest again for Aqua to get her revenge on and for me to train myself up a little bit more.

When entering the guild's building, people are staring at the rifle slung on my right shoulder.

Funny in how they never paid any attention to my pistol in its holster yesterday, but finally noticed when I brought a bigger gun. Well, they probably think this is a strange polearm or spear since there's bayonet sticking out just below the barrel.

Ignoring their gaze, we decided to order our meals, a simple vegetable soup and fried toad's legs(they're actually delicious).

While stuffing our mouth with the meal, someone approached us from behind.

Looking at said person, it's a small girl with smooth black hair reaching to her shoulders and red pupils wearing an eyepatch over her left eye, a black cloak, dark boots, pointy hat, and a staff just like a classic witch. With a delicate feature like a porcelain doll. Yep, it's a loli.

"I saw the notice to recruit adventurers with top tier, is that you guys?"

"Huh?"

Looking at Aqua, I muttered that out. She wasn't surprised in the least.

Hey, hey, what is this?

As if our eye contact was enough to convey what I'm wondering about, she answered:

"Ah, yesterday, when you are taking a bath, I was recommended by some adventurer to add more member to our party so what happened yesterday could be avoided and we'll have an easier time to defeat the demon king. So, I put a notice of recruiting adventurer on the board."

"That's pretty smart of you. Then, who might you be?"

Smirking at my question, she flung her cloak, letting it fluttering before declaring:

"Listen well! My name is Megumin! An arch wizard that controls the strongest attack spell, explosion!"

Then, spreading her legs as wide as her shoulder, raising her staff up, and putting her free hand in front of her face, she made a pose that won't be out of place in J*J*.

"For you to desire my forbidden power, so powerful that everyone fears me, show me the resolve you have to offer dark tribute to me!"

That time, the noisy guild went silent and their focus immediately shifted to us.

 _PACHI_

I facepalmed. Just how many times I'll have to keep facepalming myself in order to cope with the strangeness of this world and its inhabitant?

"Ugh, Did you come here just to humiliate us? I get that we're a beginner, rookie, newbie, or whatever you'd like to call us, but isn't this is kind of thing... you know? Mean?"

"Wha!? Of course not!" She panicky denied.

"That red pupil, are you perhaps from the crimson magic clan?" Aqua suddenly interjected.

"Crimson magic clan?"

"Yeah, they are a race that possesses a trait where all of them are born with high intelligence and magic power. Simply said, most of them are expert in using magic. But all of them have weird names." Aqua answered.

"That so? Well, sorry for doubting you, but you shouldn't speak gibberish like that, it gave a wrong impression about you and what's up with your name?"

"What's up with my name? It should be me who asked what's up with others name."

"Then, what's your parent's name?"

"My mother is Yuiyui and my father is Hyoizaburo!"

Both I and Aqua went speechless. No, more exactly, we're barely able to hold our laugh from escaping out of our mouth.

"H-Hey, why do I feel insulted by you two despite being silent? GACK!"

She suddenly fell into orz posture.

"What's wrong!?"

"I haven't eaten anything since three days. Do you have anything to eat?"

"Well, fine..."

Although I want to ask about her eyepatch, her situation is quite dire it seems...

After treating her to a meal, we immediately interview her.

Looking at her adventurer card, she didn't lie being an Arch-wizard and damn that mana capacity's huge. I wonder what kind of things I can create with that much?

Aqua suggested that we take her in since her good class and amazing skill will surely be useful in our journey to defeat the demon king.

Well, let's put that theory to test, shall we?

Finishing our meal, we took the same quest as yesterday.

Using my newly acquired skill, Scharfschütze, the enemy detecting one, I managed to found few giant toads hiding in the forest nearby the plains where we usually hunt them. Ah, so that's where they came from yesterday.

Incidentally, the skill shows the enemy by giving them a red outline around their body and red circle icon above their heads.

Telling them about it and despite that, Megumin said she'll demonstrate her power to the one in the middle nearby said forest while entrusting us to take care of any giant toads coming her way during the chanting process and Aqua agreed as she wants to have her revenge for what those giant toads did to her and expect some came out.

Me? I simply released the safety locks of my rifle.

And surely like she said, when she's chanting at the unsuspecting giant toad in the middle, two giants toad appeared from east and west side of us.

"Aqua, you take the one on the left, I'll take the right."

"Yeah, it's finally time for payback!"

Cracking her fingers, she charged at the designated toad.

Meanwhile, I took a steady aim at the slowly approaching giant toad from the right.

Steady...

Breath in.

Su~

Breath out.

Ha~

 _BANG!_

With similar yet more disgusting 'Splat' sound, this time, half of the giant toad's head was turned into chunks of brain matters on the ground.

After ejecting the spent cartridge, I moved my aim away to where Aqua charges...

"Mmmph!"

She was swallowed by a giant toad. Again.

 _BANG!_

And I rescued her. Again.

While she's crawling out of the dead toad's mouth, I suddenly felt a pressure from behind, no, more exactly from Megumin.

"Watch closely. This is the strongest possible attack of humans. The ultimate attack magic. 'Explosion'!"

As she called out the name of her spell, a small light flickered from her staff before a huge pillar of light came down from above the giant toad as if a divine punishment from gods themselves that completely obliterate said giant toad.

"AGAGAGAGAGAGA!"

My teeth rattled as I stabbed the bayonet of my rifle to the ground, trying to hold my ground from being blown away by the strong wind.

When it finally ceased, I approached the crater caused by her spell to found a scorched land about 20 meters in diameter.

"Amazing... Such firepower..."

While mumbling that, I heard croaking noises approaching.

Looking at the source, I found another pair of giant toad approaching. One of them came for Megumin and the other to recently crawled out Aqua.

"Hey, Megumin! We need to-"

Looking at Megumin's position, I saw her lying face down on the ground.

"Explosion is my ultimate spell, it is very powerful and used a lot of mana. Simply put, the mana I used exceeded my limit, so I couldn't move. Ah, to think a toad would appear out of nowhere. No good, I will get eaten. Sorry, please save me. Hya!"

On the other side...

"Kazuma, help me!"

"Although it's kinda warm and nice, it's also slimy and smelly, so could you get me out of here? I'll die if this keeps up." Megumin added.

 _PACHI_

I facepalmed yet again.

Having no energy to retort, I simply eject the spent cartridge from my rifle before freeing them both along with completing my quest.

Mein Gott, just how far do I have to keep up with this stupidity?

To Be Continued...

* * *

-o-

* * *

A/N: That's it for the second, err, first chapter actually. Thank you for reading this new chapter of this series. About this chapter, it's about the explanation of Kazuma's ability and limits along with his struggle in living as an adventurer in the new world(hence the title). So, not yet much gun's blazing on the series. Not yet at least. And please do not expect modern or pewpew laser beam came out of nowhere as Kazuma here will use mostly WWI era weapons at his disposal and a very small amount of WWII weapon at best. Also, for some German's word that Kazuma didn't translate in his monolog or thought, here's the meaning:

\- Blitzkrieg = Lighting War, a German's military tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces and locally concentrated firepower. Its successful execution results in short military campaigns, which preserves human lives and limits the expenditure of artillery. German forces tried out the blitzkrieg in Poland in 1939 before successfully employing the tactic with invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France in 1940.

\- Scharfschütze = Sniping

\- Militärbeauftragter = Military Officer/Military Commissar

\- Mein Kampf in der Neuwelt = My Struggle in The New World

\- Mein Gott = My God

For the reviewer, ArmantusCumPinnae, I'll try my best in keeping this fic alive and yeah, shit gets real. Though don't worry about too much shit get real, KonoSuba at its heart is a humorous series, so expect a lot of retorts, facepalm, and rant from Kazuma, one of the only sane person in his group or see him join the act occasionally.

That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and favs my story, I'll try my best to write this story to your and mine's satisfaction.


	3. Die Wirklichkeit

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 2 : Die Wirklichkeit**

"Ugeh... Why? I thought I had that one..."

Aqua who was covered in slime muttered with her head hanging down as she followed behind me.

She who was eaten twice a day by the very thing she wants to kill completely lost her spirit. Thus, leaving her like this.

"Let us never take a quest involving those toads again." Megumin who I was carrying on my back was covered in goo like Aqua added.

Though, I learned something now today. Apparently, you simply don't try a blunt physical attack to those toads unless you want to get eaten which is why Aqua became like that.

Not only that, I also learned that I almost killed myself the day before yesterday when I experienced a mana depletion as trying to use a magic that exceeded my mana capacity, it would directly tap my life force to make up the difference which could kill me if I overdo it. It's probably due to my luck that I 'disengaged' by falling to unconsciousness instead of using up all my mana and died a stupid death.

Wait, does that mean I almost killed myself yesterday? That can't be, right?

Uwah, it wouldn't be funny if I was killed by a mana depletion for using the 'gift' given to me.

While dwelling on about mana capacity, I didn't realize that we finally returned to the town.

"Hey Kazuma, what's with that weapon of yours? I've never seen one like it before. Is it some kind of magic staff that shoots invisible rocks or some kind of mind magic that blew those toad's head?"

Ah, I shouldn't be surprised Megumin would ask since everyone in this world haven't seen a gun yet(Aqua's an exception for obvious reason). But still, there's something bugging me a little.

"It's called a rifle. It shoots out a lethal hot lead at the speed impossible for eyes to follow. Only I can use it, though. By the way, you have other spells since you're an Arch-wizard, right? While explosion is good and all, it's only effective when we're fighting against very overpowered opponent or large mobs instead of a regular monster or small fry."

It's good that she possess a powerful spell that could be used as a trump card against a powerful enemy, but it's not something she should be using against a weak opponent, it's an overkill and moreover, a waste of mana.

"I can't."

"Huh? You can't what?" I parroted Megumin's words.

Megumin grabbed even harder and pressed her lacking chest onto my back.

"I can only use explosion spell. I don't know any other magic."

"For real?"

"For real."

A silence immediately befalls upon us.

Ha~Hahahaha~ She must be joking, right? There's no way a talented Arch-wizard can't use any other spell beside explosion, right?

The silence continued for a while until Aqua suddenly decided to break the silence.

"Wait, if your level is high enough to use explosion magic, shouldn't you be normally capable of using other magic? For example, even I didn't learn all the Arch-priest spell until after I learned the banquet party tricks."

"Hey, that's a wrong example and for what the heck would you use 'banquet party tricks' for?"

"I'm an Arch-wizard who loves explosion magic above all else. There's nothing that can compare to the magnificence of explosion magic. Explosion magic is the only one I love! I could go on as a professional solo adventurer if I learn other advanced spells instead of explosion, but I can't allow that! The only thing I love is explosion magic! Even though I could only cast it once per day, even if I will collapse after using the spell, my one true love is still explosion magic! The only reason I chose the path of the arch wizard was solely to be able to cast explosion spells!"

'I love explosion' declaration count: 4

Normally, her determination and that heartfelt declaration should be able to amaze or impress me, but hey, can you answer why there's this hopelessness I felt in my heart?

Then my feeling of hopelessness doubled with what Aqua said next:

"Wonderful! Simply wonderful! Despite knowing the inefficiencies, I am deeply moved by your great devotion!"

That answers my question eh?

Anyone whom Aqua sympathized or approve = bad news.

Even the said goddess isn't that useful in combat.

If only my life as an adventurer wouldn't end if Aqua dies, I'd ditch her far earlier.

Right, it's enough for me to take care of one problematic person, I don't want to add another number to the list.

"Yosh! That's a very heartwarming story and your dream is hard, so do work hard. Ah, let's divide the rewards equally at the guild. Yes, let's meet again if fate chooses so."

Megumin grabbed me harder after I finished.

"Hmmp... My only wish is to use explosion magic. I'll be fine without any payment."

Then she paused for a second before suddenly presenting her face very closely to my ear.

"Yes, that's right, my power as an arch wizard is available at the mere price of meals and other miscellaneous fees! How could you miss this opportunity to form a long-term contract?" She whispered.

"No no no, our weak team is not worthy of such amazing power. That's right, it's too much to ask Megumin to stay in our team with your amazing powers. A team just starting out should make do with a normal mage. Look at me, my job is even unidentified."

In order to chase away Megumin who was grabbing on to me tightly when we reach the guild, I attempted to loosen her grip.

But Megumin refused to let go.

'Why does this girl possess strong grip despite being a mage!?'

"No no no no, it doesn't matter if you are novices or strange. I might have a top tier job, but I am still a beginner too. My level is just 6. When my level grows, I wouldn't collapse after using my spells. So let's talk this over, and quit pulling my hand away okay?"

"No no no no no, it's too hard to utilize a mage that can only cast one spell a day. Let go, you got dumped by other party didn't you? Heck, explosion spell couldn't be used in dungeons or indoors, which would render you useless. Hey, release your grip. I will split the rewards equally with you! Please let go!"

Quitting my effort to be subtle in my implication of abandoning her, I bluntly reject her and it seems to have the opposite effect of making her grip even stronger.

"Please don't ditch me! No other party is willing to take me in! I am willing to carry the luggage or anything when exploring dungeons! I'm begging you! Please don't abandon me!"

It's probably because Megumin on my back was yelling 'don't abandon me', some passerby started whispering while looking at us.

Because we are in town and Aqua's appearance drew a lot of attention, it made us the center of focus.

"– No way… That man wants to abandon that child…"

"– He has a girl covered in slimy liquid with him."

"– To toy with such a small child, and to abandon her after that, what a trash. Look! Why are the girls covered in goo? What weird sexual plays did that pervert make them do?"

Yep, I was definitely being misunderstood.

Aqua who heard that narrows her eyes while looking at me in disgust as if I'm the biggest scum on earth.

'Hey, you know the real situation, so quit it.'

Megumin seemed to have heard their whispers too.

And contrary to Aqua's expression, she had-

-a shit-eating grin plastered all over her face as if foreshadowing the trouble that will soon to come.

"I am fine with any kind of sexual play! Even using the toad's slime like just now is okay! Use me to fulfill your fetis-"

"Ahhh!– I get it! I get it! Megumin, glad to have you on the team!" Before she could ruin my reputation further, I covered her mouth and unwillingly accepted her to the team to shut her up.

* * *

-o-

* * *

After going through the same thing as before, Claiming Reward - Bath - Dinner with the exception that we earned ourselves another party member(reluctantly), we split up and will regroup the next day.

In the stable, while Aqua is sleeping, I do my usual training.

Today's quest completion earned me two level up, raising my level to one level higher than Megumin. Though, it didn't have much impact on my mana capacity.

That's why today, instead of the complicated object like firearms, I'll create something simpler from the consideration of the fact that overusing my mana too much = death.

Extending my hand forward, I imagined the object before focusing my mana to my outstretched hand.

"Creation!"

A bright light temporarily engulfed the room.

As it fades out, a certain object appeared in front of me.

A military sleeping bag.

'I did it! Now I don't need to keep sleeping in that pathetic kind of pseudo-bed anymore!'

Sleeping on that haystack with a single sheet above it and having to share with Aqua isn't really a comfortable thing as I've experienced in the last three days, not to mention the cold night. So, despite not really on the comfortable side, sleeping bag is still far better than my current bedding condition.

With that, I end my 'training' today.

By the way, the next day I woke up, Aqua's pretty pissed as to why she wasn't given a sleeping bag and we got yelled by the other adventurer for being noisy.

* * *

-o-

* * *

The Next Day

Arriving in the guild, we found Megumin who's currently sitting on the table while looking at the menu.

Ah, yeah, she did say she'll be fine joining our party without taking any reward from quests as long as she had her meals and few miscellaneous fees. Let's let her have small bits rather than not at all for the next time.

Thinking about it again, I pity her... not. It's her own fault for doing something crazy as only learning one spell that will leave her vulnerable after using it.

The only reason as of why she joined our party is due to her blackmailing.

When I reminded of such things, my mood dropped slightly.

AND it's still morning.

Haa...

"Hey Megumin, you came rather early today, huh?"

"Huh? This is usual for me."

"I see."

After that, we ordered our meals and pass our breakfast rather peacefully.

With the most important meal of the day done, we decided to look for a quest.

"Eh~? What the heck is wrong with these quests?"

\- A swordsman mentor for my son, Req: Swordmaster/Rune Knight

\- Anyone for testing my spell, Req : High Magic Resistance/Hit Point

\- Hunt 10 Rookie Killer in 3 days

\- Repel a pack of 20 white wolves in the mountain range

That kind of quest.

"Is this really a beginner's town for adventurers? Why almost all of the quest put up there either really weird or for a professional!?" Bringing up my complaint to the counter lady, she could only smile wryly while answering.

"Eh, um, precisely because this is a beginner's town that there's not much threat. Located on the farthest from the demon king castle, there's no high-class monsters around and the smaller monsters will be subjugated once they're spotted to prevent the danger they could impose to this town's inhabitant."

A~Ah, if only there's herb picking quest- oh, right, there's not.

Because they grew that herb themselves inside the town and not needing any assistance in picking them that such quest is nonexistent.

What should I do?

Ah!

"Hey, let's take the giant to-"

""NO!""

Instant rejection, eh.

What should I do to gain experience and level? At my current stat that barely capable of creating a rifle, what can I do to the demon king? Nothing.

Now I'm depressed at my current situation.

"Um, Satou Kazuma-san."

Probably seeing my dejected expression, she called out to me.

"There's this recent quest of escorting a merchant's wagon from this town to a small village nearby the mountain. The difficulty isn't that hard, but the reward isn't much either, but you can gain exp and level easier since the monster living around the path you're going to take is good for a beginner."

"Really!?"

"Yes, they're going to leave this afternoon and there's a slot for one more party to join."

With that, we accepted the quest.

Apparently, the reward is 35,000 Eris per people and the maximum people for this quest is seven.

Rushing to the town's gate in order to meet the merchant we're going to escort, I can say I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the merchant is the old man who told us where the adventurer guild located and some two unknown man equipped with leather armor and each of them carried a spear and sword respectively.

"Oh, it's you again, fruit stall jii-san!"

Calling out to him, he looked at me with a puzzled expression before a realization dawned upon him.

"Ah, it's you, the brat from back then!"

"Acquaintance?" Megumin asked.

"Yeah, this geezer told us where the adventurer guild is when we came to this town for the first time."

"Oh yeah, are you already a professional adventurer? Usually, this kind of reunion happens if that's the case, right?"

"No, we're still a novice adventurer, it's just around four days since we last met, you know?"

"I know, I'm just jesting. By the way, please wait for a bit."

"Ah sure, take you time, I know you must be carrying many things."

"No, I already packed all my stuff, it's the other group of people who also accepted this quest."

"Eh?" I muttered in disbelief.

After that, he explained that some mission and escort quests are usually conducted by more than six adventurer, the maximum number a party can get. Basically, the raid system in the MMORPG.

"Ah, there they are."

Hearing the geezer's word, I looked at the incoming adventurer.

Walking toward our position are two girls.

One of them is a beautiful blonde haired woman with blue eyes.

Wearing solid metal armor all over her body, she must be a knight.

My heart skipped a bit when I keep staring at her.

And the other one is a young girl with silver hair and purple eyes with a small scar on her right cheek.

Wearing a light leather armor and carrying a small dagger, I guess she must be a thief.

"Alright, now that you're all here, let me brief you a little."

With that, the geezer told us about the path we'll take and how long we'll get to the location.

Escorting him to the next village will take around one day, six hours departing to the village, spend a night there, waiting for the geezer's trade till afternoon, six hours of returning back to Axel.

Probably because of that, he'll provide meals for us. What a considerate guy.

"Alright then, let's depart."

* * *

-o-

* * *

The Forest

Following the wagon on foot, our job is to ensure the safety of this geezer.

Using my enemy detection skill from Scharfschütze, I focused on 'anything' that isn't human or plant as the detected enemy.

But so far, there's nothing worth to note except some deer or boar running around.

So, to entertain myself, I started a conversation.

With the two male adventurers first, of course, I'm kinda nervous talking to that beautiful nee-san.

"Yo, what's your name? I'm Kazuma and these two are my party member. We're a novice adventurer, please take care of us."

"Hmm? Yes, my name is Bernard and this is my friend, Steiner." Answered one of the men while the other just nodded.

But as expected, the combination of the man of few words with a young man who doesn't have any topic to talk about creates the uncomfortable silence again.

Probably feeling awkward from the silence, the silver-haired girl started another conversation at us.

"Your name is Kazuma, huh? I'm Chris and this is my friend, Darkness."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Darkness." The beautiful Onee-san coolly introduced.

"A-Ah, yes. I'm Kazuma and these two are Aqua and Megumin. We're a beginner adventurer-"

"Who will defeat the demon king!" Aqua suddenly interjected.

"Oooh! What a great goal you have there, but are you sure you can do it?" Chris asked in a playful manner.

"Of course! If it's, I, go- I mean the greatest Arch-priest Aqua! Demon king is nothing to me! Hahaha!"

By the way, I told Aqua that she shouldn't spew around her true identity which pissed her off until I explained that she'll probably not be able to return forever if she does that. So, she settled by Arch-priest Aqua instead.

"Don't forget me, Megumin! An Arch-wizard with the control of the strongest offensive magic, Explosion! Not even demon king could withstand the might of my explosion!" She boasted while striking a pose.

PACHI

I facepalmed.

"You have a rather lively party eh, Kazuma-san?" Darkness commented while Chris smiled when hearing that.

"A~ah, you have no idea about th-"

-PING-

A small sound that indicates a group of enemy abruptly diverts my attention from conversing with Darkness and Chris.

"A group of goblin, eh? I wonder why there's that many." The geezer muttered.

Yeah, blocking our path ahead is a rather large amount of goblin mobs equipped with clubs and stone daggers.

Goblin, an ugly monster that is staple to every fantasy RPG back in my world. It is said that if your first enemy in the fantasy RPG isn't a slime, chances are, it'll be these little cretin. They're not really posing a threat individually unless you're a child, but their power lies in overwhelming their opponent with a large number or simply to say, quantity vs quality.

Releasing the safety lock of my rifle, I readied myself for the confrontation.

"'Explosion'!"

"Wha-!?"

"Hey!"

"Why do you use that!?"

All sorts of retort came from us to the stupid Arch-wizard who's being trigger-happy with her spell.

 _BOOM!_

The horse that pulled the wagon was obviously upset with the sudden loud noise and shockwave, but the geezer managed to calm it down.

"Hey, little girl! Why do you use something like that!? It's dangerous, you know!? Couldn't you use another spell instead of that!?" The geezer complained.

I get what you feeling, jii-san, but this girl is hopeless.

With that, we continued our escorting mission without any changes beside Megumin who is now on my back while the geezer gave us an earshot to his lecture about using a destructive spell in the forest.

On the way, the problems we've encountered weren't too much.

Some wild boars coming at us, small mobs of goblins, and several treants(tree monster). Either letting the other party to attack them or fending them off with my combat knife, I managed to not use my gun which could attract other monsters from its noises.

Though, they're easily repelled, their attacks slowed our progression and we're forced to spend the night here in the forest.

After having a dinner consisted of a vegetable soup and bread, we take turn in guarding the campsite with my party taking the first shift.

Poking the bonfire with a stick, I let out a yawn.

"I kinda hope our shift end soon." Muttering that, I looked at Aqua and Megumin.

They're fast asleep.

As a vein in my forehead popped, I approached them with the intention to smack their head.

GUSU GUSU

Releasing the safety lock of my rifle, I aimed my rifle at the source of the noise.

"Who's there!?"

"Hii! Please don't shoot!" Appearing from behind the bushes while raising both her hand is a silver haired girl I know.

Oh, it's just Chris, huh?

"Hey, don't surprise me like that. My heart almost stopped, you know?" She said while putting her hand to her chest, trying to calm herself down.

"You took the words out of my mouth. Anyway, what are you doing?" Setting back my rifle's trigger lock, I lowered it while sitting back nearby the campfire as I lost my mood to smack these two.

"I'm just trying to get some fresh air since I couldn't get myself to sleep."

While saying that, she sat next to me.

"Is that really wise? The next shift would be your group's turn, you know?"

"Ah, I don't mind. I'm not sleepy at all." She explained while waving her hand.

"Well, suit yourself. Though, those words are what these two said before they're like that."

"Don't worry about it. By the way, since we've not talked much earlier, why don't we chat around so that you won't get sleepy?"

"Sure, I'm starting to get sleepy from boredom."

"Then, you said you're a novice adventurer. What makes you want to be an adventurer?"

"Huh? Why do you sound like interviewing me?"

"Isn't it fine? We're just killing time until the next shift without getting asleep, right?"

"Well, fine. But it's not going to be that much interesting, you know?"

"I told you, I don't mind."

With that, I told her about bits of my life back in my world while excluding important parts for the reason of secrecy and I haven't known her for long. About my plain life up until recently when I found a resolve to become an adventurer in order to defeat the demon king for the reward. She seems to be surprised at my goals not about saving humanity, but for a selfish thing called personal reward, but it seems that she likes it honest than a lie.

After my story ends, I asked her the same thing.

"About me, huh?" She said while looking at a distance as if reminiscing something.

Hey, you're not that old yet, right?

"Well, it's nothing remarkable."

Listening to her story, she turns out to be those kind of people who wants to live as they pleased without troubling anyone nor wants to be troubled. Ah~ I completely understand that kind of feeling- probably not since I'm troubling my family till the day I was killed. After that, we talked about stuff related to adventuring and I asked her quite a lot about this world with the alibi of being from a countryside.

"And listen here, I have an unknown job, our magician can only cast a single spell in a day, and our Arch-priest, I don't know what should I say, if I put it bluntly, she's useless and complains a lot." I rant.

In the end, our conversation turned into me throwing tantrum about my situation.

"From the looks of it, your party seems lively, is there an open slot for someone to join?" She laughed heartily before asking me about that.

"Well, our party do need another member, I think everyone wouldn't complain if you joi-"

Putting her index finger to interrupt me, she shook her head.

"No, it's not me. More precisely, it's for Darkness. That girl is really in need for a companion."

"That girl? Just how old are you to call her 'that girl'? You look around my age, right?"

"Asking about woman's age is taboo, you know?"

"Ah, sorry! But still, why would she need a companion? She's a cool beauty, she should have many friends, right?"

"No, she's a shy person despite how she looks. Behind her stoic and cool visage, she's a rather lonely person, you know?"

I see...

A cool and calm but shy type Onee-san, eh?

Could this be a flag for me?

"Kazuma-san? Hey~ Kazuma-san?"

Ah, this is bad! I spaced out!

"Yeah! Sorry!"

"No, it's not a problem. In fact, I should be the one saying sorry for that abrupt request of mine."

"Don't worry about that, I'll try to ask her when this quest is done."

"Yes, that would be appreciated. Oh, here they come."

Huh?

Looking at the place Chris turned to, it's Darkness and two other adventurer.

Ah, it's time to change the shift eh?

With that and some difficulty, I managed to drag Aqua and Megumin away before creating the sleeping bag for myself.

As I slowly drifted into the land of dreams, the last thing on my mind is how should I ask the beautiful Onee-san to join our party.

* * *

-o-

* * *

After waking up and having a breakfast of the same menu as last night, we continue our journey to the next village.

Probably because we're getting close, the number of monsters that came to us weren't much and we could see human's settlement from the hill nearby.

Yep, we're very close.

Just an hour walking, we've finally arrived at the small village.

At the gate, the guard asked our business and after showing our adventurer's card, we were finally allowed to get in.

Inside the village, I can feel malicious gaze directed at us, no, more specifically the wagon that carries geezer's item.

Seems like those are some sort of delinquent or bandit, eh?

Just in case, I activated the enemy detection and aimed at those malicious intentioned people.

There are nine people identified.

Telling the geezer about it, he only replied:

"Let them be, inside this town, even they won't be able to make any move."

Even so, I'm not feeling any better, you know? The reason why I'm here was from trusting the fact that even delinquent won't go as far as killing others.

After finishing whatever business he had, it's time to go back to Axel.

Leaving the village, I can feel the malicious gaze slowly dispersed.

That's good, I don't want to deal with those kind of troublesome individual.

During our walk, we didn't encounter any monster at all which makes our returning journey much faster. Still in the afternoon and we're already in the middle of the forest.

"Nee, Kazuma, why do I feel something fishy about this?" Megumin muttered while walking beside me.

Yeah, this is plain strange...

Shouldn't there be at least some group of goblins or small monster obstructing us? My enemy detection didn't pick anything up.

Could there be a powerful monster around that couldn't be detected which caused this?

"Hahaha! That means we're lucky today! I bet we're going to arrive far earlier without any problem!" Aqua cheerfully triggered a flag.

"Don't jinx it!" I retorted.

Luckily and unluckily, we found out the answer soon enough in the form of a group of bandits blocking our path, ugh.

No wonder my enemy detection skill didn't work. I made a blunder in only considering anything non-human as the enemy.

"Hey that geezer over there, how dare you not paying the tax of entering our villages? Ha?" One of them yelled out.

Activating my enemy detection, I spotted two bandits in our left and right wielding a crossbow.

Tch, they've planned this ambush.

"What kind of tax? This was my hundredth time visiting that village and I've never heard anything like that!"

"Shut up! If we just said pay the tax, then just pay it and not yapping around like a dog! A~Ah, now I'm pissed, what should I do?"

"Hey boss, how about we kill em all!?"

"No, don't be like that. How about this, because you pissed me off, I want you to give all the money you've earned and I'll let you off the hook." The bandit leader said with a crooked smile.

The respond he earned was a drawn weapon from Bernard and Steiner.

"Cheh, have it your way. KILL EM ALL!"

"Watch out for the archer from our flank!" I yelled out to both of them.

"GAH!"

While Steiner managed to dodge out of the way, Bernard wasn't so lucky as he took an arrow to the knee due to one second late in dodging. I wonder if he'll quit being an adventurer and become a town's guard?

"Bernard, you okay? Tch!" Before Steiner could rush to help his friend, a bandit clashed his sword against him.

"WRYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Yelled some bandits with axes and swords charging at us.

Devising the plan about this situation, I yelled out while releasing the safety lock of my rifle.

"Aqua! Heal Bernard-san! Megumin, help Aqua evacuate Bernard-san! Those who can fight, hold those melee fighter, I'll take care of the archers! Geezer, hide inside your wagon!"

Probably knowing the severity of our situation, they listened to my command.

As the others following my order, I do my role in taking care of the archers.

But before that...

Su~

Ha~

'They're a bandit who's willing to kill others for their own convenience, they can easily kill someone without remorse. Killing human without remorse = not a 'human' being, those bandits can kill another human without remorse, therefore they're not 'human'. As long as they're not human, killing them is fine. Let's not make a common cliche of losing a comrade then resolved to kill like in those anime or manga. It'll be too late by then.'

Muttering that deduction in my mind, I took an aim at the archer on our left side. Apparently, both of them are still reloading their crossbow.

 _BANG!_

A hole formed inside the left archer's forehead followed with the sound of my rifle's lever cocked as the spent cartridge ejected.

Hearing the loud noise of gunfire, all the bandits and some of us except Aqua, Megumin, Bernard, and Chris turned their attention to me.

But that was proven fatal for the bandits as Bernard's blade managed to decapitate one of the distracted bandit while Chris kicked one of the bandit's head, causing him to be fainted.

"K-Kill that guy with strange magic tool first!" Managing to recover first from the shock, the leader yelled to his remaining goons.

By the time he ordered that, I already aimed at the right side archer.

 _BANG!_

The last archer finally fell, let's back the vangu-

"ARGHHHHHHH!?"

Screaming in pain as I fell down on my butt, I finally noticed an arrow sticking out of my right thigh.

Damn it, that archer managed to shot me before dying!?

While gritting my teeth in order to hold back the pain, I observe the situation of our vanguard.

"YAHAAAAA!"

Just perfect, one of the bandits managed to slip around the gap of our vanguard.

With my trembling hand, I aimed my rifle at the incoming bandit.

 _BANG!_

FUCK!

It missed!

And that miss reward me by allowing the bandit to get too close and by the time I finished cocking the lever of my rifle, it'll be too late.

The only thing I could do is to raise my rifle and use it to block the incoming blade.

"Ghhh!"

"Die!"

Damn, I'm slowly getting overpowered.

"HAAAAAA! ! !" Another voice came from behind the bandit.

 _SHRAKK!_

A spear tip erupted from the bandit's chest.

"Huh?" I muttered dumbly.

"Are you alright, kid?" A man who should by all rights having his knee pierced by an arrow is standing before me and being my rescuer, Bernard.

Kicking away the dead bandit, he assisted me in standing up.

"Kazuma! Are you okay!?" Aqua yelled as she and Megumin rushed toward us.

From their look, they are very worried about my well-being. That's rather obvious due to the fact that Aqua won't be able to go back if I'm dead and Megumin would lose her party.

"I'm fine, but Bernard-san, how could you move like that?"

"That's because of your party's Arch-priest's superb hea-"

"ARRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! It hurts! It's fucking hu- Eh, there's no pain?" I interject with my scream as Aqua roughly pulled out the arrow out of my thigh before she healed it. The result is amazing as there's not even scar in my thigh, but my right leg is still shaky, probably from phantom pain.

"I suppose that answers your question?"

"Yeah. By the way, will you still retire and become a town's guard?" I jokingly asked.

"What?"

"No, I'm just joking. Let's help them defeat these bastards." I said while slinging back my rifle to my right shoulder. Apparently, the scope broke when I used it to block that bandit.

Taking out my Luger P08, I released its safety trigger lock.

As the Luger P08 is a short ranged firearm, my skill, Blitzkrieg activated and improve my condition as my shaky leg stopped shaking, my head gets slightly clearer, and I feel I can stand normally again.

"Let's go!"

The battle last for merely five minutes.

While the vanguard held those bandits back, I shoot them through the gaps they made and soon enough only the leader remained as three of those bandits are out cold for a while and another five of them are out cold forever.

"Bastard!" Swore the leader as he slowly backed away.

You think I'd let you?

 _BANG!_

"FUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCK!" He screamed pathetically as a hot lead embedded itself inside his right thigh, courtesy to my Luger P08 and a payback for his underling that shot my right thigh before.

As we approach him slowly, he tried to crawl away, only to be cornered at a large tree.

Seeing us approaching, he whimpered.

"Hii! Please don't kill me! Please don't kill me!" He pathetically begs.

"What a disgusting guy." Megumin commented.

"I concur. But let's interrogate him if there are some more bandits like h-"

Intending to interrogate him, I walked closer to him only for me to leap back for a bit as a black shadow leaped from the forest and landed on the bandit.

"GYYAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Screaming in pain while hearing flesh being torn apart, I take a closer look at the being to find that it's some sort of large black wolf like creature.

When the screaming subsides along with the bandit leader's life, the creature turned at us and along with it, several glowing eyes appeared from the forest.

"What are those creature?" I muttered while slowly backing away.

"This is bad, those are Rookie Killer. A monster that is known to be the bane of rookie adventurer just like its name. They are cunning and smart enough to kill new adventurer who wasn't careful. They must've come due to the noises we made when fighting." Chris explained.

"Kazuma, what should we do?" Megumin asked while hiding behind me.

Hey, don't use me as a shield!

But still, this is a bad situation.

 _Scheiße._

To Be Continued...

* * *

-o-

* * *

A/N : Alright, the chapter's over and for the content, it's about Kazuma confronting the reality(hence the title of this chapter(Die Wirklichkeit) which means the truth of the KonoSuba world as despite the zaniness of it, that doesn't mean everything is a rainbow and sunshine as there's a reason why people from real world were brought over to KonoSuba world. To defeat the demon king. Also it has another meaning as this chapter shows the truth of my word about diverging from canon(some will stick around, some will not). Now, onto the info drop:

\- Scheiße or you can use Scheisse = Shit, crap

\- Die Wirklichkeit = The Truth, The Actuality, The Reality(For reality, you can use Realität in place of Wirklichkeit depending on the sentence)

\- Weapon :

Luger P08

Type: Pistol

Calibers: 7.65x21mm Luger, 9x19mm(Used by Kazuma)

Weight: 1.92 lbs (0.87 kg)

Barrel lengths: 4 in (10.2 cm) (Standard Model)(Used by Kazuma), 6 in (15 cm) (Marine Model), 8 in (20.3 cm) (Artillery Model)

Capacity: 8-round detachable box magazine(Used by Kazuma), 32-round detachable drum magazine

Fire Modes: Semi-Auto

The Pistole Parabellum 1908—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum) is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The design was patented by Georg J. Luger in 1898 and produced by German arms manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) starting in 1900 with other manufacturers such as W+F Bern, Krieghoff, Simson, Mauser, and Vickers, it was an evolution of the 1893 Hugo Borchardt–designed C-93. The first Parabellum pistol was adopted by the Swiss army in May 1900. In German Army service, it was succeeded and partly replaced by the Walther P38 in caliber 9×19mm Parabellum. The Luger is well known from its use by Germans during World War I and World War II, along with the interwar Weimar Republic and the postwar East German Volkspolizei. Although the P.08 was introduced in 7.65mm Parabellum, it is notable for being the pistol for which the 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as the 9×19mm Luger) cartridge was developed. Fun fact: Captured Lugers were much prized by Allied soldiers during both of the world wars as war trophies. However, during World War II, German soldiers were aware of this and would use Lugers as "bait", rigging them to detonate land mines or hidden booby traps when disturbed. This tactic was common enough to make experienced Allied soldiers deeply suspicious of an apparently discarded Luger that they discovered.

Mauser Gewehr 1898

Type: Battle Rifle

Weight: 9 lbs (4.1 kg)

Length: 49.2 in (125 cm)

Barrel length: 29.1 in (74 cm)

Cartridge: 7.92x57mm Mauser

Capacity: 5 round internal magazine fed with 5-round stripper clips

Fire modes: Bolt action

The Gewehr 98 (abbreviated G98, Gew 98 or M98) is a German bolt-action Mauser rifle firing cartridges from a 5-round internal clip-loaded magazine that was the German service rifle from 1898 to 1935. It was the final development in Mauser's line of turn-bolt rifles. First patented by Paul Mauser in 1896, it was adopted by the Imperial German Army in 1898. The Gew.98 action featured cock-on-opening, meaning that the cocking piece was forced back (and thus the mainspring compressed) by camming with an inclined-plane cut into the circular wall of the bolt body. Furthermore, the diameter of the receiver ring was increased by 1/8" (3.18mm), allowing the receiver to withstand greater chamber pressures. The Gewehr 98 action, using stripper clip loading with the powerful 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge, introduced advanced infantry weapon features rapidly adopted in the Anglo-American Pattern 1914 Enfield/M1917 Enfield and the Japanese Arisaka Type 38/Type 99. The Gewehr 98 replaced the earlier Gewehr 1888 rifle as the German service rifle, first saw combat in the Boxer Rebellion, and was the main German infantry rifle of World War I.

Review Response:

\- XxPokemonMasterxX: That's a hilarious yet disturbing idea, but sadly he won't. Reason? This isn't a crack fic and the last thing I want is for Belzerg to be filled with swastikas and the soldiers saluting each other with Heil Kazuma. Though, the main reason as for I won't, it's because making that kind of fic is a rather racist act toward German's people.

\- NickTheHun: Good for you to notice that! And no problem for the Germans as I'm currently starting to learn Germans.

\- Judgment of the Arbiter and MysticSpider : I'll try my best in creating this story.

\- Guest: Please use your acc to review or at least if you can't, leave a name, it's hard to respond when there's like 3 guest acc reviewing with the same name. But anyway, thanks for the review.

That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and favs my story, I'll try my best to write this story to your and mine's satisfaction.


	4. Die Scharfschütze

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 3 : Die Scharfschütze**

 _Scheiße_

I cursed under my breath as I backed away.

"Be careful to not let your guard down. Don't make any reckless movement, because that's precisely the reason why they could easily kill novice adventurers." Steiner warned.

Steiner-san? I know that, but those things are slowly approaching us, you know?

This is a really bad situation.

We're in a stalemate with these creatures.

Anyone who made the first strike recklessly will die, be it our group or their pack.

"What should we do? If this keeps up, we'll die either." I asked Steiner-san while still keeping my eyes on those beasts.

"Tsk, I've fought only two Rookie Killer before, but not this many. The only course of action we should take is to not get provoked by their attack pattern which aims to separate us individually. They also aimed for the weakest one to be targeted first." He muttered while taking a slight glance at Megumin.

Which is a bad idea.

"Are you implying that I'm the weakest one to them? Despite knowing that I am the Arch-wizard who controls the strongest magic available to human!?"

"Hey Megumin, this isn't the time to argue about it, you know? Besides, those Rookie Killer couldn't possibly know about it, isn't it fine to just let it go for now?"

"It is not! You don't simply insult the pride of Crimson Magic Clan and get away with it!"

GRRRRRRRRR

Hey, are those Rookie Killer getting agitated? It must be my imagination, right? RIGHT!?

Then something that warrants me a facepalm happened.

Coming from behind me, Megumin stood in front of the Rookie Killer and declared:

"You stupid wolves, I, Megumin, the Arch-wizard from Crimson Magic Clan who will one day defeat the demon king will show you how it feels to fall unto the abyss of cold death!"

"I won't let myself be outshone by her! I am Aqua, an Arch-priest that will also defeat the demon king! You lowly dogs shall fall before me!"

Standing beside Megumin, she declared that before both of them strike a pose.

Pretty obvious for what happens next.

"AHHHHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!?" I yelled before aiming at three Rookie Killer that lunges at them.

 _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Falling on the ground with a thud, I noticed that only one of them was dead while the other two survived and whimpering about like a dog as I only managed to hit their sides.

That became the signal for all hell to break loose.

"Get ready!" Bernard shouted while readying his spear against incoming Rookie Killer pack.

As there are around twenty Rookie Killer attacking us, our position is similar to when we fought those bandits earlier with Darkness, Chris, Bernard, and Steiner took the vanguard position with Darkness attracting their aggro while the other three attacking and despite that, those dogs are smart enough to let one of them to somehow slip through their guard and bared their fangs against Megumin and Aqua, the one who caused this.

""WAAAAAA!""

 _Bang! Bang!_

Which is where my role as the rearguard came to play as I killed one of the incoming Rookie Killer with two shots.

"Huhu! It went all according to plan!" Puffing her flat as washboard chest, Megumin boldly declared.

"As expected of Kazuma, the man who is actually not really good for nothing after all!" Aqua added.

Wow, not only that they're acting full of themselves despite being scared as hell before, now they dare to shamelessly say whatever they pleased.

I want to hit them both so bad but refrain from it as the situation doesn't allow it.

"You two idiots, stop yapping about and do what support should do. Except you, don't cast explosion unless you want us all dead."

While grumbling and staring daggers at me, they do what I told while I provide a support fire to the vanguard.

After several minutes of combat, I found that these Rookie Killer really are friggin tough.

Our vanguard, although not critically wounded or in life-threatening injury, they're starting to tire out while those things are still persistent in their assault.

Not only that, while a single shot to their head is enough to kill them, but try to shoot other than the head, they'll only whimper in pain for a few seconds if it's their limbs, or even became more aggressive in their assault if it's their body.

And did I mention that they're also fucking smart that after seeing me firing my pistol just for a few minutes? They either tried to kill me or positioning themselves behind the body of our vanguard, making me have a difficulty trying to hit their body let alone their head.

My solution to it?

Putting back my Luger into its holster, I took my rifle and tear off the broken scope, only relying on the default Lange-Visier sight, a rear v-notch quadrant sight to shoot.

With that, I began the Rookie Killer hunting parade.

 _DopanN!_

A Rookie Killer that was in the middle of leaping mid-air towards Steiner's blindside dropped dead with a hole poking through its left eye.

While 9x19mm caliber's stopping power isn't enough to deal a debilitating blow, the 7.92x57mm Mauser bullet combined with my passive skill of damage increase from Scharfschütze is apparently more than enough to deal a fatal injury at the very least or instant death to these dogs.

Ejecting the spent cartridge, I took another aim at the Rookie Killer that Chris currently fights against.

 _DopanN!_

As the Rookie Killer dropped dead with the remaining bullet in my rifle, I ejected the spent cartridge before taking out a 5-round stripper clip. Unlike the modern rifle or pistol's that use magazine box, Gewehr 98 used a 5-round stripper clip to fully reload the rifle by shoving down the stacked bullet from the clip's belt into the rifle's chamber before setting the bolt back in place. With this system, the soldier wielding this rifle would prefer reloading the gun when it's empty for a quick chambering rather than slowly inserting one by one round into the chamber like an older rifle or when it's not empty.

But while I took my sweet time to reload, one of them slip around Darkness' guard and came too close to me for my own comfort.

Not having time to pull out my Luger nor aim properly, I opted to use the bayonet attached below my rifle's barrel and shove it into its jaw.

Instead of piercing its head, the Rookie Killer chews on my bayonet.

 _GRRRRRRRRRRR_

 _DopanN!_

Though, even if that's the case, slightly above that bayonet is my rifle's muzzle which means a simple trigger pull is more than enough to extinguish the life of that Rookie Killer.

Pulling out my rifle's bayonet out of the dead Rookie Killer, I shook it for few seconds to rid my bayonet and rifle from the mix of saliva and blood.

After that, I resumed my assault from before.

While the vanguard took the role of both defending us and directly attacking those Rookie Killer, I gave the support fire to either weaken them for the vanguard to deal the killing blow or directly killing them myself. Meanwhile Megumin and Aqua both continues to be useless due to their own ability.

As their numbers dwindled to the point of it could be counted with both hands, they finally decided to stop their assault and choose to retreat.

We literally hold our breath in anticipation for sudden attack while they're retreating until they completely disappeared, then we're finally able to breathe back to normal and take a look at our surroundings.

Many corpses of Rookie Killer around us and the bandit group's corpses behind us.

Is this how adventurer lives every day?

While in the many adventure RPG I played before featured human bandits, thieves, or criminals as the enemy to kill, killing them with my hand leaves some sort of a bad taste despite my resolve to do it in order to prevent my comrade's death. Added with the Rookie Killer pack that came right after them, I felt like as if being slapped to see the reality of this world's danger.

Probably noticing my downcast expression, Steiner tapped my right shoulder from behind.

"Those bandits deserve what's coming to them. They dare to take others life's and they should be ready for theirs to be taken, so don't worry too much. Besides, you did well against those Rookie Killer despite being a new adventurer." He consoled me.

"That's right, that's right! Although killing someone is bad, but if it's that kind of people, I doubt that I would call them human." Bernard added.

"I'm the same as Bernard-san. If I have to choose, I would rather not kill them, but sadly it's only a wishful thinking. Just try your best in trying to not kill people if you can help it." Chris said.

"Ah! That's right! Even the great goddess Aqua-sama of Axis cult will forgive murder as long as it's for self-defense, protecting someone, and spreading the great Axis cult!" Aqua joined cheerfully.

"Everyone... Thanks. But wait- Aqua, did you just said something about forgiving murder for spreading religion?" I asked while looking at her incredulously.

"Teehee, my tongue slipped."

"Don't 'teehee' me! That last one is dangerous, you know!?" I retorted.

Hearing our banter, the atmosphere lighten up as everyone laughed at our antics despite the blood, entrails, and corpses surrounding us. Meanwhile, Megumin alone pouted while muttering 'I haven't used my explosion.' several times.

After that, Aqua began healing everyone who was wounded in the battle while Bernard and Steiner burned the corpses to prevent them from turning into undead before we immediately set out to return as soon as possible due to the risk of possible attack by those Rookie Killer again.

* * *

-o-

* * *

On The Road

In order to quickly leave, the old geezer told us to get in the empty wagon as the items he carried were all sold out.

With Steiner sitting beside the geezer, he'll be our watchmen to warn for any sign of monster while we sat on the back.

Meanwhile, inside the carriage.

""Hmmmphh! Mmmmpfhhh!""

A muffled voice can be heard.

"Hey Kazuma, isn't it a little bit too much to do that?" Chris who sat beside me asked while sweatdropping.

"No, they deserved it." I replied with closed eyes and folded arms.

Yeah, right in front of us are these two morons who did something dangerous during the fight against those Rookie Killer.

With their wrist and legs tied, eyes covered, and mouth gagged, they wriggled like a worm.

Meanwhile, Darkness' face is as red as a tomato, probably embarrassed at the implication behind two girls being tied up like that.

The rest of the trip went smoothly and we've managed to return back to Axel safely in the dusk.

Our first destination is the same, adventurer guild.

After claiming our reward, we split up to do our own business.

Chris goes back to her place.

Bernard and Steiner returned to the inn and planned to leave Axel tomorrow.

Aqua and Megumin leaves for a bath after trying to hit me for what I did to no avail.

And the only person left is me and Darkness.

While I wanted to go to take a bath before having dinner as soon as possible, I can't back out of my promise to ask this beautiful nee-san to join our party.

Her performance as vanguard yesterday is great despite being on defensive.

She'd compliment my position as Scharfschütze by tanking the damage and diverting enemy's attention while I provide support fire or killing shot from behind.

Although it wouldn't be cool for a man to hide behind a woman- No, that's wrong, this means that I'm not a sexist who only thought women only should be in the kitchen or to be protected. Yes, that's it! Because I respect women, that's why I gave her the equal opportunity to protect man! Also since my weapon is a firearm, my effective way to fight is by using range advantage, not as a melee combatant. Yep! Definitely not because I'm afraid of death!

My musing ended when I noticed Darkness approached me to talk.

"Ah, Darkness-san, wasn't it? What can I help you?"

"Um, may I j-j-join your party?" She stutters.

Huh? Why is Darkness' face beet red? Don't tell me now she's reluctant in wanting to join my party because of what I did to Megumin and Aqua!? Crap! I messed things up! Did I break her flag?

"A-Ah, s-sure, I-I-If you wanted so. I don't want you to force yourself."

Shit! I messed up again! I should've explained about the misunderstanding not trying to push her away!

"No, I'll join your party."

Oh!?

Seems like I still have a chance to correct her misunderstanding, so let's do it now!

"Um, about tying those two in tight ropes, I did it because they are the ones who provoke those Rookie Killer earlier today, I don't have any meaning behind doing that so-"

"Please tie my up as well!" She suddenly declared.

"Eh?"

My ears must be wrong, right?

"Come again?"

"Please tie me up with tight ropes like you do to your party member!" She yelled while panting up.

Ah, those gunfires must've been messing with my hearing. Damn it, I should've searched for modern weapon equipped with silencer back in my world if I knew this would happen.

"Kazuma-san? You're spacing out for a while, are you okay?" With a worried expression, she asked me with a voice tinted with concern.

Yeah, that's right. That thing earlier must've been my imagination. Seriously, just because a beautiful nee-san joining our party I already imagined something like that, what a bad person I am.

"I am fine, sorry for worrying you."

"That's good. More importantly-

She took a deep breath.

-Please tie me up good, Kazuma-san!"

Ah~ What a good news! My ears aren't in trouble after all! But the bad news is this nee-san turned out to be that kind of person!

No wonder she looks at both Aqua and Megumin like that when they're tied up. No wonder she doesn't have any friend. No wonder Chris dumped her on me.

How could I not realize this? Oh wait, shouldn't it be normal for normal people like me not to realize something like that?

Let's play that card.

"Hey Darkness, sorry for this, but could you reconsider joining our party again? We're a beginner party, you know? Our adventure wouldn't be as grand as you thought and we could've gotten into much trouble like yesterday if everyone wasn't there to cover us."

"No! That's perfect- I mean, it's fine! It is my job as a vanguard to protect my party!" She banged her breastplate in a resolute manner.

Her looks after doing that are absolutely stunning and really reflects a role model of Crusader a.k.a the knight that protects their comrade. If only she didn't say the next sentence.

"Ah! It's fine if you abandon me when we're surrounded. In fact, it's what I'd wish you to do! Being held captive by the monsters... Ravaged as my hope of being rescued slowly disappear until I completely submit to the whims of the monsters. That is my main reason for being an adventurer- no, Crusader!"

With her outrageous declaration, everyone left in the guild suddenly looked at us in both disgust, pity, and wry smiles. It's pretty obvious each one for whom, however.

"No, no, no, we don't need a Crusader who goes into battle with being defeated in her mind! So please, if fate chooses so and I wish it doesn't, we'll meet again later!" I bluntly reject her.

"Guh! That one really hits me hard, but it'll hit much better if you weren't already accepted me into your party."

Scheiße! I forgot that I accept her first and found out later! Is this what one felt when buying something with good packaging only to found the content being a defective product? Or worse, shit.

Now what to do? What to do!?

Ah.

"I'll be leaving!"

With that simple sentence, I abruptly left the guild with haste.

I'm unable to think about ways to reject her right then and there without giving her more reason to join my party, so I choose the most obvious option of temporary retreat. Let's complain to Chris tomorrow- no, better if I hit her hard instead. Hmm, yes I'll do that tomorrow.

After that whole fiasco, I decided to think of ways to reject her instead of training today.

* * *

-o-

* * *

The Next Day

"Kazuma? You're awfully quiet today, is something wrong?" Aqua asked while eating her breakfast.

Yeah, after doing the usual routine of waking up, taking a bath, and going to the guild for breakfast I was plunged into a situation I'd rather not get plunged into.

That is Darkness sitting beside me who is trying to enjoy my _wurst_ and cheese, something I tried for the first time.

While both Megumin and Aqua keep asking me about her, I never said a word since she sat next to me.

This is the plan I devised; If I don't say any word at all, even she would be uncomfortable and eventually leave us alone.

It's a perfect plan as anything I said might backfire badly to me, so silence it is.

Slicing a small piece of my wurst and cheese, I used my fork to pick both and ate them together.

The juicy meat combined with the soft cheese that compliments its taste is simply superb. It'd be perfect if Darkness wasn't here, of course.

"Hey Kazuma, you usually love to complain about every little thing, but why are you playing mute? Is it due to what happened yesterday?" Megumin asked before biting into a roasted meat she ordered.

My eyebrows twitched at that remark.

'Those little things you mentioned weren't little at all!'

I wanted to retort that, but I must be patient in order to reach the goal.

Doing everything in a perfect and flawless manner... _Das ist die Deutsche weise!_

While being absorbed in my musing, Darkness suddenly slammed the table.

"As expected of Kazuma-san! Doing a neglect play during the second day of me joining with your party! I knew it, you must've many kinds of plays that you've prepared for me, right!?" She said while heavily panting.

I facepalmed.

Ah, that's right, I'm not a German, I'm a Japanese, what am I thinking about? Using that motto- But wait, weren't we considered as honorary Aryan during the second World War by the Führer himself? But still that doesn't make us German nor- Wait, what am I thinking in this kind of situation!?

"NO! Who would do those kinds of things to you!? In the first place, how could this world so cruel to bestow beauty upon someone with that kind of personality!?" I retorted reflectively.

Ah-

"A-As expected of Kazuma. Umu, I was right in joining your party!"

Crap! I forgot that this woman likes being abused with words as well!

"Why not Kazuma? She's a good Crusader as she displayed yesterday, right?" Aqua joined.

"Not helping. Can't you see how she acts!? Why would I want another troublesome person to our party!?" I pointed at Darkness who reacted by moaning a sensual 'Ahn' at my blunt remark.

Hey woman, don't get turned on by something like this.

UU, what should I do? I wonder where's that little cretin of a blue haired thief that caused this to happen to me?

Then out of nowhere, a loud siren blared.

"Emergency quest! Emergency quest! All adventurers in town, please gather at the front gate at once! I repeat, emergency quest! Emergency quest! All adventurers in town, please gather at the front gate at once!"

Such announcement can be heard all over the town.

Immediately after that, everyone rushes out toward the front gate as if something important will happen there.

Following after them, I saw that everyone is running around and hiding inside the building.

"Yosh! Get ready everyone!" One of the adventurers yelled out.

"""Ou!"""

"What's going on here? A demon attack?" I muttered out loud.

"Get ready kid!" The other adventurer responded.

"Get ready for what?"

"Just wait till we reached the front gate!"

Finally arriving at the front gate, I was greeted by the usual sight of plains and hills, nothing worthy to note.

"There's nothing here."

"Look over there, kid."

Looking at the direction that one of the adventurers pointed, I can see a flood of green thingy came at us.

Using 'creation', I created a binocular to take a closer look.

Those green things are- flying cabbage!?

"Hey, hey, what the hell are those!?"

"Those are cabbage." Aqua simply stated.

"No, no, no, no matter how you'd see it, those things are some kind of monster, right?"

"Are you an idiot? Cabbage is a crunchy and refreshing vegetable, what else could it be?"

"Ha? Shouldn't cabbages grow on the ground and being harvested by the farmer?"

"Ahh… I forgot that you won't know such things. Let me tell you, the cabbages of this world…"

Aqua adopted an apologetic pose and was about to tell me something when the guild staff interrupted her and explained to all the adventurers in the building.

"I apologize for gathering everyone on such short notice! I think everyone should know the emergency is because of the cabbages! It is time to harvest cabbages this year! The quality of the cabbages are great this year, each one is worth 10,000 Eric! We have already evacuated the residents. So please harvest more cabbages and turn them in here! Please take care of your own safety and don't get hurt from the cabbages counter attack! Also, because of a lot of people and bounty, the reward would be given out at a later date!"

 _Was?_

The sound of cheers erupted outside the Adventurers guild.

Ignoring the dumbfounded me, Aqua continued her explanation:

"The cabbages of this world can fly. When their taste ripens during harvest time, they fly through cities, plains, the continent and to the ocean, unwilling to be eaten. If that is the case, we should get more cabbages and eat them while they are still delicious."

"Can I return back to enjoy my unfinished wurst and cheese?"

While mumbling softly, the adventurers around me charge forward with vigor.

 _Oh mein Gott..._

I facepalmed. Again.

* * *

-o-

* * *

As the quest was finished without too much trouble, we've returned to the guild by evening after taking a bath.

Though, I took a longer time to submerge myself in the bath to relax and rid myself of this frustration.

None of my quest up until now went smoothly.

On the first quest, Aqua ended up almost eaten by a giant toad.

Second, Aqua and Megumin got into the same predicament as the first.

Third, caused by Aqua and Megumin.

Fourth and lastly a.k.a just recently, caused by everyone since screw this world for making a vegetable as a monster to risk your life against.

Haa... Can't I just peacefully enjoy shooting monster up without having to worry about those guys?

If this keeps up, I'm going to catch Marie Antoinette Syndrome.

Let's try to think more optimistically for a change.

My party consist of an arch-priest with many useful support skill and flawless healing, a magician with the capability of blowing shit up with extremely powerful spell, and a crusader with immeasurable endurance and defense, and last but the best is I(ore-sama) with the amazing power to create many kinds of military equipment with mere thought which most of the monster around here couldn't withstand, hahahaha!

With this lineup, I'm sure it isn't really impossible to challenge the demon king as long as I ignore their flaws.

Leaving the bath with that optimistic thought, I headed back to the guild for dinner.

As quick as my optimism rose, it fell again as I saw the spectacle inside the guild.

What comes around goes around I guess.

"Everyone's meal and drinks are on me!" Aqua declared while raising her beer mug in the middle of the guild.

"""OOOOOHHHHH!"""

I facepalmed. Once again.

"Oh, Kazuma, over here!" Megumin called out.

Apparently, she's the only one who noticed my arrival.

Is a guy wearing out of this world slightly torn tracksuit with a rifle slung over his shoulder and pistol on his holster that unnoticeable? Then again, they're kinda quickly used to my appearance and now probably drunk to notice me so my point kinda moot.

"What's going on here and what is that idiot doing?" I asked while taking a seat beside her with Darkness in front of me.

"Oh, since we've got a great haul today, Aqua wants to treat everyone since she caught over two hundred cabbage in the hunt."

Looking through the menu while listening to her explanation, I feel slightly impressed by that amount compared to mine despite my advantage of using a gun.

"That so? Even I barely got a hundred. Waitress-san, I'd like to order the today's special and neroid!" I responded before yelling out my order which instantly replied by an affirmative from said waitress.

"Well, I don't exactly know how much I got since I collapsed after blowing them, but it should be a lot."

"Customer, this is your order."

"Ah, thank you."

Putting down the plate and drink that Megumin ordered, I saw stir-fry vegetables with the majority of it filled with cabbage.

While ignoring Megumin who started to gobble up her meal, my attention shifted to Darkness who kept staring at me from earlier.

"Hey, if you have a problem, say it. It's creepy in how you stare at me, you know?"

"Nothing. I'm just irritated that Kazuma couldn't understand maiden's heart."

"If you call being an M as maiden heart, I'd be glad to not understand it."

Yeah, earlier...

"I'm going back. Seriously, I'd rather spend my time enjoying a good wurst than doing this." I muttered while turning back.

"Hey Kazuma, why don't you join in? It's a rare event where you can rack a good amount of fortune, you know?" Aqua said excitedly.

"Not interested." I simply waved one hand to her while keep walking back to town, but-

"ARGH! ! !"

Huh? Did I just hear a scream of pain?

Looking at the source, I saw one of the adventurers clad in heavy armor got knocked back by a ramming attack of that cabbage.

Wait, is that dent on his armor? Huh? It's a dent!?

How could a cabbage dent a steel armor!? That is bullshit!

While trying to pass my five stages of griefs about this world's cabbage, I was interrupted in the stage of depression by another scream by the same person.

This time, he was rammed by six cabbage consecutively which caused his breastplate to shatter and falling down on his butt.

And here I am almost reaching the stage of acceptance, now I'm back to denial again.

But still, if I don't do anything, that guy's body will go kaboom soon.

Sighing, I took out my Luger and shoot every incoming cabbage headed his way while advancing toward the man.

"Are you alright?" I asked the knocked down man while reloading my Luger.

 _Bang! Bang!_

After shooting two incoming cabbages, I helped him up and carry him back to the town's gate.

By the time I let him down and decided to go back, I heard more scream from the adventurers.

Hey seriously, are these people going to die by cabbage?

Taking out my Luger again, I prepared to at least cover their retreat only for-

"Kazuma, let me show you a path of Crusader." She muttered before charging forward.

As people got knocked down one by one from being rammed by those cabbages, Darkness stood in front of one adventurer who was unable to escape due to getting pinned on the ground by a swarm of cabbages.

Slashing her sword, she didn't hit anything and only managed to knock away the swarm.

"Watch out!" The adventurer yells.

Turning around to where the adventurer looks, Darkness saw a cabbage flying her way.

Instead of using her sword to slice it-

 _BAM!_

Instead, she threw her sword before crossing her hands to endure the blow easily.

"Quickly get back! I'll buy you the time!"

 _BAM! BAM! BAM!_

"It's useless! I think they broke my leg! Just leave by yourself!" The adventurer yelled.

"Hey Darkness, you should listen to that man! Your armor is starting to break!" I yelled out with a worried tone.

"Don't be an idiot! Do you really think I'll let people die on my watch!? As a knight, I shall never allow it!" She declared with rough breathing and face as red as a tomato.

Ah, how could I forget about it?

She is that kind of person.

"OOH! She's a great knight indeed!" One of the adventurers shouted.

Wow, do you have a blindness, mein freund?

Sighing about another thing to be added to my five stages of griefs list, I dragged myself to the downed adventurer.

"Can you stand?" I asked while ignoring noises that Darkness made while enduring the armor-chipping blow.

"Ah, yes, but how about her?"

Sparing a glance at Darkness who got surrounded by the swarm of cabbages, my response:

"Meh, she can take care herself."

With that, I carefully lift him up before supporting him with my shoulder to stand.

While slowly walking back, I noticed Megumin who struck a pose with her red eyes glowing ominously.

Oh shit.

"NO! NO! NO!" I yelled at Megumin's direction.

"YES! YES! YES!"

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! ! !"

"YES! YES! Explosion!"

"NOOOOOOO! ! !" With her staff pointed at the spot behind us, she cast that fucken spell without consideration.

BOOOOOOMMM!

Carrying the adventurer as quickly as I could while yelling that, we still got caught by the shockwave.

My ears are ringing damn it!

Managing to get up from that, I checked the man I carried only to find him losing his consciousness. Taking him to the guild staff, the next thing I do is to check about-

"What a powerful spell! I barely survived that one!" With flushed face and torn up clothes that miraculously still covers her important bits, Darkness said that cheerfully.

Though, despite Megumin's spell obliterating many of those cabbages, there's still more incoming albeit not as much as earlier.

Seeing that, those who were healed and not wounded charges forward again.

"Everyone, let me take the blow while you finish them off!" Darkness declared with a flushed face.

After that, I vented my stress regarding everything by blowing off every cabbage flying toward Darkness with my Gewehr 98 in an act not too different from cock-blocking which pissed her off.

That's how I got here.

"Guh, how savage."

Ignoring her, I opted to wait for my order instead.

By the time my order came, Aqua already sat down across me and Megumin.

"Kazuma! I knew you'd picked a right party member! The cabbages couldn't break through her iron wall defense no matter what they did."

"No, I didn't do much, I am just really tough. I am clumsy and slow, so I can't really hit my target, my only strong point was shielding others. Megumin has an impressive offense. You took out the swarm of cabbages with just one explosion attack. All the other adventurers were shocked, to say the least. And Aqua too helped a lot with your party trick to boost people's morale and kept the captured cabbage fresh!"

Haah...

"Kuku, no one could stand up to the power of my explosive magic… But Kazuma was the most active one. He picked me up after I exhausted my mana and carried me back. But I'd prefer if you don't hit my head, though."

If you don't want me to hit your head, don't cast Explosion nearby me, you idiot.

"Indeed, shooting down every cabbage with precision, you're just like an amazing sniper. Thus, I shall grant thee the title of Cabbage Sniper!" Aqua declared.

 _PAK!_

"Ouch!"

"Rejected." I simply said after smacking her head.

"Well then. Although I already introduced myself in the joint quest yesterday, I am Darkness, a Crusader. Theoretically, my weapon is a 2-handed sword, but don't count on it too much. I am clumsy with my hands and tend to miss. But I am good at being a tank, so please take care of me."

That's right, we got another companion officially.

Aqua smiled leisurely, she looked pleased.

"Hmmp, our party is becoming great. I am an arch priest, Megumin is an arch wizard. And we have the defensive specialist vanguard, crusader Darkness. 3 out of 4 members having advanced jobs are rare, Kazuma! Aren't you feeling blessed?"

A wizard that could only use one spell a day, a vanguard that couldn't hit anyone and a priest that was dumb, had bad luck and was totally useless! Do you call this a blessing, moron?

If I could reject Darkness, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but sadly these three idiots already hit it off and I can't really abandon them for obvious reason.

Seriously, what kind of elder god did I piss in my previous life.

Ignoring their banter, I decided to watch the stars on the sky through the window.

Still, despite many misgivings, this world is still a beautiful one.

Oh well, let's hope for the best tomo-

"Waitress! Why there's some sort of metal piece in my stir-fry!?" One of the adventurers complained.

"Ouch, mine as well!"

"Me too!"

"What is this thing!?"

Followed by the others.

"Ah, I'm sorry. I never knew there's this kind of thing inside a cabbage." The waitress apologized while holding the stuff they found in their cabbage.

Looking at the commotion and the small object held in her hand, I immediately have a cold sweat.

L-L-Like I said, l-let's hope for a b-better tomorrow.

To Be Continued...

* * *

-o-

* * *

A/N:

Alright, first of all, sorry for the delay of the chapter! It's because of my irl stuff regarding university and other things and now for the chapter itself, the title means The Sniper since Kazuma did a lot of sniping in this chapter and a little joke about that last one. For the cabbage event, I kept it as is due to the plan I have about what he'll do with that firearm of his and all, but rest assured, only few canon part sticks while some either adapted out or changed to accommodate the fact that he brought a military equipment of his world to the world of sword and magic.

And now for the German words and not-so-German terms:

\- Marie Antoinette Syndrome: A sudden whitening of the hair. The event that named the syndrome was the observation that the hair of Queen Marie Antoinette of France turned stark white after her capture after the ill-fated Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.

\- Ore-sama: A Japanese way to refer oneself as a very important person. An example of the character using this: Prussia from Hetalia Series, BlackStar from Soul Eater.

\- Five Stages of Grief or The Kübler-Ross model: A series of emotions experienced by terminally ill patients prior to death, wherein the five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

\- Honorary Aryan(German: Ehrenarier): A term from Nazi Germany. It was a status granted by the Nazi Bureau of Race Research, or by other Nazi members, to certain individuals and groups of people—who were not generally considered to be biologically part of the Aryan race—which certified them as being honorarily part of the Aryan race. The prevalent explanation as to why the status of "honorary Aryan" was bestowed by the Nazis upon other non-Nordic—or even less exclusively, non-Indo-Iranian/European—peoples, is that the services of those peoples were deemed valuable to the German economy or war effort, or simply for other purely political reasons. Those who were granted by this includes: Minuscule amount of Jews, every Japanese, Finnish, and The Muslim Arab Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini of the British Mandate of Palestine "was granted honorary Aryan" status by the Nazis for his close collaboration with Hitler and the Third Reich.

\- Das ist die Deutsche weise: That is the German way. Note: The German way I mean is the stereotype and facts that Germanic people are known to be geniuses and perfectionist in everything they do. And I'm pretty sure that is the fact cause if it's not, what else could explain in how the heck could that country could rise to what it is right now despite losing two world war? Although it's personal, this is why I like Germanic people and currently learning their language.

\- Was: German equivalent of 'what?' expression.

\- Wurst: Sausage, German was also famous for their many variants of sausage and before they're being seen as geniuses and perfectionist, Germanic people were once(before 1850) considered too lazy, eats sausage, and drink beer every day. Though, now that is obviously not the case.

\- Mein Freund: My friend.

Review Response:

\- XxPokemonMasterxX: Yep, they are amazing indeed. Though, for your last question I can't really answer that since it'd be spoiling, don't you think?

\- Judgment of the Arbiter: Your welcome, mein freund!

\- FateBurn: Of course, I'll try my best. No, my perfect best! Cause I want to follow das Deutsche weise!

\- Fimfic is better: Okay...

\- tsun: Yep, I was partly inspired by Gun-Ota.

\- Guest: *facepalm* Please, at least leave a name like that(Fimfic is better) than leaving a simple guest comment. But anyway, this is an exception since there's only one guest comment in the 3rd chapter as I write this chapter right now, so I'll respond anyway: Yeah, I'll drop some info about WWI stuff here and there since I have a huge interest to it as well.

That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and favs my story, I'll try my best to write this story to your and mine's satisfaction.

P.S. To Germanic reader out there, please correct my words or terms about German if I'm wrong since I'm still learning about your language. Tschüss!


	5. Flammenwerfer

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 4 : Flammenwerfer  
**

After the whole fiasco of people finding my Luger's bullet inside their meal ended with no culprit found, it resolved rather peacefully by the guild staff with merely replacing those adventurer's meal with the new one.

I felt guilty for that, but I don't want to get beaten to an inch of my life for stating the truth.

That said, right now I'm at the stable and next to me is a sleeping Aqua.

She stinks. For the obvious reason of drinking too much alcohol and partying like crazy.

"Waitress~ Beer one more!~"

Oh yeah, she didn't bother to change into her pajamas and dropped into the haystack+sheet bed before sleeping like a log and snoring out loud.

Enough of her and now since I've skipped my training for about three times, it's a must for me to do this tonight.

Looking at my adventurer card, I was rather surprised positively as my level went from a single digit of 5 now turned to the double digit of 11. I heard newer adventurer leveled up pretty quick, but I didn't think it'd be this quick. But then again, we fought against something that could kill a newbie adventurer like us, so that must've counted.

Despite that much of a level up, most of my stat only gain a slight boost.

If I am to make a comparison(grudgingly) with my party member, it'd be something like:

Megumin : Strength(D-), Agility(D), Speed(D), Vitality(D), Intelligence(B), Magic Power(S), and Luck(C)

Aqua : Strength(A), Agility(A), Speed(A), Vitality(B), Intelligence(E-), Magic Power(A+), and Luck(F-)

Darkness : Strength(A), Agility(A), Speed(A), Vitality(S), Intelligence(C), Magic Power(C), and Luck(D)

Me : Strength(D), Agility(C), Speed(C), Vitality(D), Intelligence(A), Magic Power(C+), and Luck(SS)(Flavor- _ficken_ -text only)

Seriously, stat-wise, I'm barely above Megumin who's the only job is to cast a spell once and be done with it. Meanwhile, there's those two with the amazing physical stat on the board but both are totally hopeless as one of them couldn't hit jack shit and the other would either recklessly charge or taunt or simply want nothing to do with the enemy which would end up in me cleaning her mess up.

The only stat I dwarfed them all is Luck and even then, it's just a flavor text rather than actual representation. I wonder why it's SS instead of SSS? Could it be to represent what I am the most? Let's hope it's that and not that kind of SS.

Alright, let's stop wallowing myself inside the pit of sorrow and despair for looking at my pitiable stats.

Now it's time to train my exclusive magic.

"Creation!"

With my outstretched right hand holding my Gewehr 98, I followed the three steps of creation.

As the light slowly starting to coalescence into my rifle, it begins to form a shape.

Concentrating on the object I'm creating, the bright light lasts for few seconds before fading away.

When it's completely gone, the Gewehr 98 in my outstretched hand now sports a fresh new Warner & Swasey Model 1913 Prismatic Musket Scope that was broken during my our fiasco with those bandits.

Though, this isn't the end of my training.

Knowing the importance of superior firepower from the fact that if I don't have my Gewehr 98 during the whole debacle with those damn Rookie Killer, I could be in afterlife right now, I decided to amp up my game.

Putting down my repaired rifle on the floor, I outstretch my right arm again and concentrate.

"Creation!"

This time, what I create isn't a weapon as I don't want to risk mana depletion.

When the light faded out, I take a look at the small thing I'm holding in my right hand.

It's a bullet.

More specifically, K-bullet, a 7.92×57mm (8×57mm IS) armor-piercing bullet.

Unloading my Gewehr 98, I load the K-bullet inside my empty rifle and found no problem in loading it.

It might be quite too much for me to use the K-bullet, but considering many monsters that lurk inside this world, this is a necessary measure to prevent myself from being embraced by the death earlier than I should. Not to mention that those Rookie Killers weren't exactly that high in the monster's hierarchy, so it should really speak something about this world's monster to boot.

Next!

As fixing my rifle and making a powerful bullet didn't take too much toll on me, I decided to create more stuff.

Outstretching my right arm again, I imagine the next item.

"Creation!"

With the same fanfare, light and all, another item popped up in my outstretched hand.

This time, it's a short wooden stick. With a pin at the bottom part. And a grenade head at the top part.

Yes, it's a Stielhandgranate or simply a stick grenade, potato masher, whatever you can call it due to it's unique shape.

The model I made is the 24 ones since I would rather use a newer model than the older one- Okay, although I saw Karabiner 98 and yet still using Gewehr 98, that was due to preference and those are very similar to the point of nothing much changed or improved so my point still stands.

The decision of making a grenade stems from today, in more detail, the cabbage shenanigans.

Dealing with a large mass of enemy with an anti-personnel weapon isn't effective nor efficient at all and Megumin(despite her craziness to cast her spell nearby me) proves that sometimes having a powerful area attack is a good thing.

And if I encounter a monster too strong for my liking, there's this one option of simply stuffing this down its orifice and let this potato masher mashes its insides.

Still, I don't feel any tiredness or fatigue after doing these all.

I was almost tempted to start creating a sub-machine gun again, but decided against it and hold it until level 15 rather than to risk something bad that might happen.

Let's see what kind of stuff I've already made.

Firearms. Check.

Bullets. Check.

Grenade. Check.

Sleeping Bag. Check.

Binocular. Check.

Well, what else should I make?

After thinking for a while and having nothing comes to my mind, I opted to sleep until I saw my hung up tracksuit jacket torn in many places due to being hit by Megumin's Explosion shockwave.

Ah, I think I'll create that.

"Creation!"

* * *

-o-

* * *

The Next Morning.

Waking up from my slumber, I noticed that I woke up quite late as there's no Aqua as far as I can see.

Well, she's probably eating or doing whatsoever in the adventurer guild while waiting for me.

With that in mind, I made up my sleeping bag before leaving for a bath.

Sparing the details of me taking a bath, I went to the adventurer guild in high spirit due to the fact that I'm going to claim a huge sum of money from yesterday's quest. Though, I wonder what should I spend it on besides for food? While living in the stable isn't luxurious or enjoyable, turns out I easily adapted to living there rather quickly(probably thanks to the sleeping bag), so, our living place isn't a problem. Or should I try living in an inn? I don't know.

Thinking about that while walking to the adventurer's guild, I didn't realize that I'm already in front of its door.

Opening the door, I was greeted by a sight that I would rather not see at all.

Hugging a staff in her hand, Megumin moans while muttering 'Irresistible' over and over again.

"Hey Kazuma, you're rather late- Wait, what's with that outfit?" Darkness called over.

Yeah, my latest creation is this, a military uniform.

To be specific, Germany's WWI Era uniform which consisted of a gray tunic, gray trousers, a brass and silver belt buckle, ankle boots, and gray overcoat. Though I removed the decorations like iron cross and another embroideries, turning it into a plain gray military uniform.

Puffing up my chest, I smirked before explaining the uniform to her while neglecting several things related to my previous world.

"I see, but that outfit for a soldier is really lightly- no, not having armor at all, is it fine?"

"Don't worry, you know how I fight, right? I don't need heavy armor in most case. By the way, talking about armor, where's your armor?"

"Ah, it's currently in repair."

"That so?" I muttered while inspecting her.

She looks thinner when she wore that armor of hers.

Looking at her current state wearing a black tight skirt and tank top with leather boots, she looks more like a swordswoman than a crusader.

With great figure and not too thin body, she's simply a sexy woman, but-

"Are you trying to undress me with that stare of yours?" She said excitedly.

-yup, there's that.

"By the way, what the heck is wrong with that girl? She's looking like you right now." I pointed at Megumin who is still doing that disgusting thing, trying to steer off the topic.

"H-H-How savage... As expected from Kazuma. You won't show any mercy, huh?" With rough breathing and flushed face, I pretty much knew her rotten personality is rearing its head out.

Give me back my apology, you rotten woman.

Seriously, give back my high spirit from earlier.

"Hey, you Explosion loving maniac! What the hell are you doing!?" I yelled at Megumin who is starting to hump the staff.

"Oh? I didn't see you coming, Kazuma. And what stupid question are you saying?"

Wow. Amazing, a man wearing a full set of gray military uniform with several weapons on his person coming to a building that is not a military installment to not getting any notice... Show some surprise damn it, even that unrepentant pervert was pretty surprised.

Releasing the staff from her embrace, she outstretches her right arm which held the staff.

"Behold! This staff contains manatite crystal which brims with magical power! With this staff, my Explosion spell's potential going to rise into the new heights!"

"Hee~ is that so?" I muttered uninterestedly.

"WHAT!?"

A loud voice of surprise came from the guild counter with the culprit none other than our hetaregami.

Looking at her way, I saw her grabbing the collar of the poor counter staff-san.

"Why is there only 100,000 Eris! You know how many cabbage I caught? It's about two hundred! TWO HUNDRED!"

"Erm, this is hard to say…"

"What!"

"What Aqua-san turned in was mostly lettuce, so..."

"Why was lettuce mixed in there!"

"Even if you ask me that, I don't know!"

From their conversation, there seemed to be a problem with the bounty.

"Hey Darkness, how the heck lettuce could be among those cabbages swarm?"

"Well, I don't know very much, but I heard they're very rare and they have a very low redemption rate compared to the cabbage."

"Hee~"

While chatting with Darkness, that hetaregami with her hands behind her back and that obviously forced smile asked.

"Kazuma-san~, how much money you got from yesterday's quest?"

"Around a million."

"HA!?" x3

Yup, that huge sum of money was gained through the cabbage quest. Actually, that was because in yesterday's quest, I gained quite a lot of them from shooting those that came toward Darkness and that's really many of them. Despite being destroyed and in a tattered state, those cabbages I turned actually are all high grade and yield a lot of exp which is why 1 million Eris. Though, this makes me wonder why lady Luck works like this?

"Kazuma-sama~ I've been thinking for a while, but, don't you know that you're, um, cool, and those outfit of yours is lam- I mean good on you."

She was about to say lame, wasn't she?

"If you only force yourself to praise me, then don't. Besides, I don't want to share my reward."

Hearing my blunt reply, she dropped all pretense of praising me and pounces on me.

"Hey, let me go, you hetaregami!"

Struggling against her grip, I tried my best to make her release her grip on me.

Damn it, why does this useless goddess' strength show up only for something like this!?

"UWAHHHHH! Kazuma, please lend me money! I owe 250,000 Eris for treating everyone last night! Please lend me some money or something bad will happen to me!"

This goddess...

"Then so be it. Let this experience teach you how to not do something idiotic anymore!"

Hearing my reply, she suddenly released my collar that she grabbed before.

Looking at her, I saw that she looked down as her bangs covering her eyes.

"Are~? Is that so? Although I might end up as a sex slave for my debt... Even if my pure body being tainted... Don't feel guilty for it, Kazuma. This is my fault after all." She murmured audibly while slowly dragging herself away.

Don't try to guilt trip me, you hetaregami, you brought this upon yourself.

Or so I want to retort, but-

'What a bad guy.'

'Yeah, how could someone let a girl that young to be a sex slave if he can help it?'

'Uwah, I'm glad that I'm not in the same party as his.'

That kind of people murmured out loud as they please.

Do they even know about her circumstances? I think not as they keep saying whatever they want.

Still, this wouldn't faze me if I wasn't a beginner adventurer.

But the rumor that might sprout from this misunderstanding since most people or things or even this world are idiots-

"FINE, FINE! I'll lend you some money, but don't expect me to do this next time!"

Turning back to me, her bang-covered-face suddenly not so covered anymore and a very annoying smile plastered upon her face.

"I knew it, Kazuma is really kind!"

Tsk, while I have no use for too much money, I surely don't want to spend it for paying my acquaintance's loan.

* * *

-o-

* * *

After lending Aqua 150,000 Eris and having a breakfast, I decided to look for a quest in order to disperse my ruined mood.

Let's see what's on the board.

\- Kill a Black Fang, an advanced level monster that always comes in a pack.

\- Kill 10 goblin deep in the mountain range. Warning: Rookie Killer may appear.

\- Kill 50 Demonic Treants at the outskirt of the town.

\- An adventurer with high resistance to poison and magic, I want to test my magic potion. KYAHAHAHAHA.

What the heck with all these quests? Especially that last one, is that even eligible to be put on the quest board? Anyway, I knew that this town is as far from the demon king army as everyone knows, but still... For the supposed town of beginner to host only high-level quest or absurd one is kinda stupid, right?

So, I asked the guild staff-san and her reply:

"Sorry, but this is because one of the demon king army's boss had moved into the nearby castle. Because of this, weaker monsters decided to hide while stronger ones appearing left and right. So, until a backup from the capital come, we can't do anything but to offer this kind of quests. I'm truly sorry about this."

"No, don't worry it. By the way, how long does it take for the backup to come?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not even sure. The capital is busy with many demons attacking them almost every day, so we won't know for sure when they'll come."

Ah, seriously? Why now of all times?

With that information, I discussed it with my party and:

"Let's charge the castle! Don't worry, if we're in a pinch, you can abandon me! To be ravished by one of the-(Alright, let's tune out of her)"

"Since I'm out of money, killing one of the demon king's top brass should rake in a good amount of fortune!"

"Kazuma, Kazuma, let's do it! The sealed power within me is acting up and demands a sacrifice! I can't hold it much longer unless we unleash it to one of the demonic king army's boss today!"

 _PAK_

I facepalm.

Wow, my party could really synchronize only at the weird thing, aren't they?

"I know that our goal is to defeat the demon king, but let me ask you, what's your level?"

"I'm 10."

"I'm 15."

So, Megumin is slightly below me, Darkness is higher than me, and Aqua- Wait a second.

"Hey Aqua, what's your level?"

"Are~? What could you possibly be talking about?"

Innocently smiling, she told me that.

This is fishy.

"Your level, don't play dumb. Give me your adventurer card, I'll see it for myself if you don't want to tell me."

"Uh-um, ehehehe-"

While still innocently smiling, that smile was accompanied by sweating. If I guess it, it might be a cold sweat.

Snatching her adventurer card, I could only sneak a glance at it as Aqua took it back as quick as I snatched it. But I already saw the dreaded number.

It's 4.

4 is a number of death in myth from Japan and China since the pronunciation of it is the same with death: si/shi.

Due to this, when several myth-believer architects in both countries builds a building with floors, they won't list a number four in the building and opted to skip it to 5 immediately.

4 is also bad because a certain film about an intergalactic bounty hunter sent to earth to kill several aliens brother failed to do so and die when facing the fourth despite being successful on the third and previous two.

And four is bad for us because that means Aqua is the lowest leveled member of our party.

All factor above proves that-

"Aqua, you're useless."

"W-What?"

"Not contributing to fight. Check.

Messing things up in the fight. Check.

Owing money due to your own act. Check.

Troubling others with your own action. Check.

The only thing you're useful in is being a healer. Seriously, without that, there's nothing worthy of you at all. Not to mention that those negative sides amounts are as much as your level."

"UWAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Putting her face down onto the table, she cried from my truth-filled statement.

"Hey Kazuma, your words are too strong, if you don't hold back and say everything out, most girls will cry okay!"

"Yes. If you accumulate too much stress- I could take Aqua's place and endure your scolding, so lecture me all you want, don't hold back. As a crusader, suffering for others is a merit."

The two of them looked at Aqua who was crying on the table. Knowing that she was the center of attention, Aqua would peek at me through her fingers from time to time, which irked me.

Then, Megumin suddenly explains.

"Don't you know Kazuma? Most Priests are always few levels behind their ally due to a hard time of leveling, you know? Most of their skill are either support or healing and they can't fight on the front lines without risking theirs and their party's life for doing a reckless thing. The only way for Priest to be able to join the combat is when they fought against the undead race who are easier to kill by priest's healing magic than by normal way of destroying their body."

"Is that so?"

There's that kind of system in several RPGs I played where the healing magic of a priest is an attack magic if cast to undead and vice-versa, so that works here as well, eh.

"Umu, so let us take on that demon king army's boss! OUCH!"

I smacked her head for that.

"Don't be crazy, our party's average level barely reach 10. At least wait until we hit 20 or higher, I don't want to die young." I replied while massaging my temple to ease my headache due to Megumin's antic.

Hmm... Even with that knowledge, if there's no such quest to improve this hetaregami's level so in a proxy, improve her intellect as well, it's useless. And stop sneaking a glance, you crocodile teared goddess.

While thinking about it, Darkness dragged me back to reality from my musing by showing me a quest paper from the board.

-Kill 50 Demonic Treants at the outskirt of the town-

Description: These pesky monsters are starting to appear in a rather large group in the outskirt nearby this town's cemetery, please eliminate them before victims could fall.

"Darkness, if you aren't a masochist, I'd hit you very hard right now. Are you out of your mind for giving us this mission?"

"Guh, but-"

Treants, simply put, they're either a tree or monster who can attack and moves slowly or not moving at all.

In this world, it's the variant that is a monster and could move slowly, also their attack range is particularly pathetic. But when they die or if their pathetically slow attack connects, you're gonna be in for a lot of pain as their heavy body crashing down on you or their 'hands' which were covered by sharp branches could turn you into either a Belgian pancake or Swiss cheese.

If you add the word 'demonic' to it, the only thing that comes to mind is a stronger, scarier version of it.

"Wait a second, Kazuma, while the demonic treants sound dangerous, compared to normal ones, they're not that dangerous." Megumin explained while rubbing the sore spot in her head where I hit her before.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, they're actually dead trees or treants that were possessed by a vengeful spirit of a dead adventurer or monster who died in the forest. Because of their rotten and decaying state, their physical body is a hollow tree with fragile branches. As long as you don't have your guard down, it'd be a walk in a park. It's also an undead if I may add." She added.

"Still, Darkness' armor is still in reparation, right? Those branches should hurt if they hit and I think they will remembering Darkness' personality."

"That's cruel. But don't worry, even without my armor, I have a full set of defensive skills. Because of that, I dare say that I am harder than an Adamantoise. And it feels better without armor when I get hit."

Let's just ignore her last sentence for now.

"Hey Aqua, you heard them right? Time to prove your competence and quit shedding crocodile's tear."

Shaking her shoulder, her hands that covered her face loosely released and shown us- a sleeping hetaregami.

Wow, just wow.

* * *

-o-

* * *

So, this is the place?

Currently, we are in a town's outskirt that faces the forest.

Using my binocular, I tried to spot any of these so called Demonic Treants. Apparently, their appearance when not moving couldn't be distinguished with old, gray trees.

Either due to luck or their really bad way of camouflage, their surroundings were filled with lush green trees which pretty much gave away their position as the quest description told us that there are no very old trees nearby the location or gray ones.

After confirming all their position, I put away the binocular and starts the briefing about our tactics.

"Alright, there's actually around a hundred of those monsters. My plan is that Darkness will attract their attention and focused on her while Aqua cast her area healing spell. Meanwhile, I will do the support fire if any of them slip through Darkness' guard and Megumin will be our emergency support if there are too many demonic treants coming for us to handle. Any objection?"

"Hey Kazuma, why don't I cast Explosion right away to complete this quest faster?"

"Idiot, for who do you think we do think this quest for? Anyone else got a non-stupid complaint?"

With no one saying anything about it, we proceed to do the quest.

First of all, Darkness charges forward and activate her aggro skill to attract their attention.

As her skill took effect, several demonic treants decided to uproot themselves from their (pathetic)camouflage and slowly walk toward Darkness.

Soon enough, she began to engage them.

"Aqua, your turn."

With that simple command, she stood behind Darkness and begins her chant.

"-And thus, be banished from this world! 'Turn Undead'!" Finishing her chant, a circle of light slowly spread from below her legs into those treants and-

They simply turned into a dust of woods.

So that's the effect of casting a holy magic against the undead opponent, eh?

But it wasn't over as many demonic treants are coming. Though, from then onward, it ended in the same pattern without me or Megumin being needed. Well, except that one time I tried out my K-bullet which gave me a satisfying result as the poor demonic treant that became my target practice turned into a pile of splinters.

Well, that is good. At least now we know how to get an easy level grinding quest for Aqua, I guess.

From there on, our quest ended without much trouble and Aqua gained several levels up, so the end result is good~ Or so I wished.

"Shit! This is so stupid!" I yelled while shooting down a demonic treant that came running from my left side.

Yes, they can run.

Apparently, my party is smart enough to not tell me that they could camouflage themselves as a lush green tree, call for reinforcement, and despite being far more fragile than their living counterpart, this creepy menace could enter a frenzy state where their fragile body gets even more fragile for a speed boost in movement and attack speed which result in our current situation: being surrounded by these things that turn out to be much more than a hundred in number.

While one shot from my rifle is enough to destroy them, their overwhelming number is nothing to scoff at. At this rate, we might get overwhelmed by these monsters.

"What should we do, Kazuma!?" Megumin asked while lying on the ground.

Yeah, she already cast her spell in trying to open a way for retreat, but those things just blocked it immediately afterward via their friggin reinforcement from deep in the forest. The same thing happened when I used my M24 Stielhandgranate.

"Guh, for them to be this smart, there must be someone controlling them." Darkness muttered while grimac- scratch it, she enjoys the pain.

Aqua who keep casting her 'Turn Undead' appears to be fine. Physically.

With that demonic treants' creepy appearance and as many of them slowly slipping through Darkness' guard, it's pretty obvious how scared she was.

Now what should I do?

Explosive won't work.

Aqua's Turn Undead only have a small AoE.

Wait a second.

How about fire?

"Hey Megumin, are these demonic treants weak to fire?" I asked while shooting another demonic treants coming our way.

"What kind of stupid question are you asking in this kind of time? Of course, they are, it's even more effective to use against them due to their hollow and dry dead body."

Then a stroke of inspiration came to my mind.

"Darkness! Aqua! Hold on for a bit without my support, I'll soon destroy them all!"

"AHHHHHHHH! Be quick, Kazuma! 'Turn Undead'!"

"Guh! Ah! Take as much time as you need! I won't fall until then, even if your plan is to leave me alone!"

Ignoring the latter's statement, I threw down my Gewehr 98 and outstretch my right arm forward.

"Are you trying to cast something, Kazuma?"

"Yeah, just wait for a bit, Megumin. 'Creation'!"

Following the three steps, I tried to create that.

Never I'd imagine that I'll use something like that this fast.

But well, I don't think creating that would cost too much mana as its design and how it works is rather simpler than a firearm.

"Haaaaa!"

A bright light erupted from my outstretched hand.

When it fades away, I tried to hold back a shit-eating grin from plastering all over my face to no avail.

* * *

-o-

* * *

Third Person View

As Kazuma does his thing, Darkness and Aqua tried their best in following that order.

While not even one attack could connect to their target, Darkness succeeded to hold them back until Aqua cast her 'Turn Undead'.

Not knowing what their friend planning and yet trusting him, they keep doing the same thing over and over again.

"Aqua, do you have a magic to grant resistance against fire or heat?" Suddenly came Kazuma's question from behind.

Without turning back, she replied:

"Of course, for what?"

"Cast it on everyone now!" He commanded.

Following that order, she closed her eyes and begins her chant.

"'Water Goddess' Bless!'"

Shouting the name of her spell, every one of her party member including her was surrounded by a thin membrane of whitish light around their body.

"Good! Now Darkness, get back and carry Megumin! Leave this to me!"

"Kazuma, what are you planning? You can't possi-"

Her sentence was cut short as she saw a weird person behind her who stood nearby Megumin who lays on the ground.

* * *

-o-

* * *

Return to Kazuma's POV

"Kazuma, what are you planning? You can't possi-" Her sentence cut short before finishing as she saw what I am wearing.

Wearing a flame-retardant suit with a gas mask while sporting a two annular tank containing 12 liters of fuel connected to a flexible pipe with a steel grip and pipe with a nozzle at the end. I stand ready to burn those pesky monsters. Simply said, I became a flametrooper.

If what I'm fighting is a normal soldier from my world, using this weapon would be tantamount to suicide due to its short range and only last for a maximum of three minutes, unlike some games that portray it as having an infinite fuel. I'd be riddled with bullets by the time I reached the enemy's range.

But this isn't my world, so screw it. Even if its range is short(30 m) compared to guns, if compared to my enemy who could only attack at the melee range, it's pretty much one-sided.

"Quickly retreat and ask question later."

Following that order, she and Aqua retreat with her carrying Megumin on her back.

With them out of my way, I faced the incoming demonic treants.

Pointing the nozzle to their way, I pressed the trigger of my Wechselapparat M1917, allowing the pressurized flammable liquid to flow and pass over the igniter and out of the nozzle, spouting what makes this weapon named a flamethrower:

 _FWOOOOOSH_

Flames.

Just like Megumin said, their hollow and dry body are weak to fire as it only took several seconds for them to turn from a menacing creature into a cinder block.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Burn! Burn! Burn!" I laughed maniacally while pushing forward, not feeling the heat from the blaze thanks to my suit and Aqua's buff.

"Kazuma?" Megumin called out hesitatingly.

It's pretty amusing seeing those assholes trying to overwhelm us with their numbers for it to turn into disadvantages as being too close to each other caused the flame to spread among themselves.

Idiots.

When their numbers had dwindled into barely a hundred, they finally realized that the tables have turned and decided to retreat.

Sadly for them, their fastest running speed is just like normal human's and when they got too far-

Letting go the trigger, I pulled out the pin of my incendiary grenade and throw it as far as I can to their retreating direction.

Obviously, it caused a fiery ground that blocks their retreating path.

When they tried to circle around the fire, I threw another incendiary grenade over and over again until their path being barricaded by a huge fiery field, forcing those poor enough who didn't already pass the area where I threw it into two sadistic choice: Charge through it anyway and die in a fire or try to kill the incoming me and risk being killed anyway.

Pretty much a quarter of them decided to run through the fiery ground which caused a slower death as their legs(roots) slowly being burned until they completely charred.

Meanwhile, the rest of them which is also the majority of them decided to attack.

Brave, but foolish attempt as I still have about one and a half minute fuel's worth.

"MUDA! MUDA! MUDA!"

"Kazuma, I think that's enough..." Darkness murmured.

I won't explain how one-sided the battle ended, but in the end, none of those demonic treants remained, either they already escaped or die by our hands.

Standing above charred remains of those demonic treants, I feel the euphoric feeling of triumph.

"Hey, Kazuma!" Megumin yelled at me, snapping me out of my stupor.

"What?"

"Look around you!"

"Huh? WHAT!?"

Yup, I'm an idiot.

I forgot that our battle took place in the forest nearby the town and thanks to my flamethrower and incendiary grenades, I just created a forest fire.

Shit.

To Be Continued...

* * *

-o-

* * *

OMAKE(Non-canon, Makes no sense, and For Pure Crack)(Written on 24 December 2016): Weihnachten in Der Stadt(Christmas in The Town)

"Hey, Kazuma." Aqua called out to me.

"What is it, Aqua? And don't call me Kazuma." I replied to her while taking out my red aviator goggles.

"Huh!? Just because you're wearing that kind of outfit doesn't make you that person!" Saying that, she pointed at my current attire.

Wearing a fighter pilot uniform that was colored red with white trimmings and a Santa hat. Basically, I'm dressing like a Santa but not exactly Santa.

Because-

"It does and you have to call me Santa Clauzuma." I declared dramatically while donning my goggles.

"You've got to be kidding me."

While she muttered that, I outstretch my right arm.

"'Creation'!"

A German's Bomber Aircraft, Gotha G. IV painted in mostly red but with the crosses painted white appeared in front of me. Aqua who saw this could only drop her jaw in surprise.

Before hopping up to the pilot seat, I checked the plane to make sure the flight wouldn't be my last one. When it's done, next I removed around 250kg demolition bomb contained inside by willing it to disappear. Then, I replaced them with boxes wrapped up in ribbons; a present I'll deliver as a Santa Clauzuma on this occasion.

After that, I hopped up into the pilot seat before starting the engine.

With the loud noise of rotor spinning, Aqua finally snapped out of her stupor and pointing at my direction in exasperation.

"HO! HO! HO!" I laughed heartily as my plane picked up it's speed in the runway.

"KAZUMAAAAAAA!" She yelled as I took off.

On the air, my Santa hat waving around as the strong wind billowed about.

Looking at the direction in front of me, I can see the town of Axel from here.

Oh?

I didn't notice it earlier, but it's starting to snow, huh? Let's do this!

Few minutes of flying later, I'm soon entering the airspace of Axel. With that, I turned on my radio, connect it to a big megaphone, and plays the Jingle Bells song.

Pretty obvious that everyone woke up due to the noise.

Be it getting out of their house or looking through their windows, they saw a foreign object flying in the sky that lets out loud noises.

'Look! It's a bird!'

'No, it's a dragon!'

'No, that must be-'

"HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas everybody!" I yelled out in deep tone while pressing the button to drop the gift.

As I flew around town, boxes wrapped in beautiful ribbons slowly falling down(due to small parachute attached to each of them) from the bomb compartment in my plane.

When it's done, I flew above the town's square and yelled out:

"So long everybody, I'll see you in the next Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

With that, I leave Axel and headed for the final place for the present.

And that place is-

The demon king army's boss' castle.

"'Creation'!" As I shouted that, 250kg demolition bomb reappeared inside its compartment of my plane.

Flying above the castle, I switched the music from Jingle Bells into Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries.

Hearing the loud noise, several watch-undead-men shoots their arrows at me to no avail.

Then-

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa's gonna punish the bad Ho's!"

With that, I dropped the 250kg worth of demolition bomb directly above the castle, blowing it up to smithereens.

Making a U-Turn back home, I smiled to myself at the job well done.

Once again, Santa Clauzuma saved the Christmas.

Meanwhile...

"Ugh, why does that weird red flying thing gave me a book of 'How To Be Useful For Your Party, Wizard Ver.'?" Megumin complained after opening her gift.

"I'm the same here, why is that thing gave me 'How To Quit Being A Masochist'?" Darkness joined.

Aqua who stood nearby them could only sweatdrop.

Omake End.

* * *

-o-

* * *

A/N:

Okay, first of all, Frohe Weihnachten! a.k.a Merry Christmas! I wrote this chapter right at the night before Christmas(in my place). Alright, for the chapter, it means flametrooper and those who knew it might already know the foreshadowing of what will happen in this chapter. For this chapter, I take the another break from canon and include treants, yeah, treants. I wonder why there's plant girl in the KonoSuba but no treants as far as the current chapter goes, so yeah, I'll add it since it's a monster from fantasy world anyway. For the wackiness of Kazuma wielding flamethrower, who wouldn't get that rush when turning the table back at their opponent? As for the Omake, like the description, it's not canon, wacky, and purely for crack as I metaphorically pull that out of my ass since it's going to be Christmas soon. For why I'm capable of updating this quick, it's because I'm free for these two weeks and might give a fast update, but past that and it's going to be the standard 1 or 2 weeks per chapter. Alright, now for the terms:

\- Ficken: F*cking

\- The SS that Kazuma talking about is Schutzstaffel(Protection Squad), a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP; Nazi Party) in Nazi Germany. It began with a small guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz (Hall-Protection) made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. In 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and given its final name. Under his direction (1929–45), it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany. From 1929 until the regime's collapse in 1945, the SS was the foremost agency of surveillance and terror within Germany and German-occupied Europe.

\- K-bullet is a 7.92×57mm (8×57mm IS) armor-piercing bullet with a tool steel core designed to be fired from a standard Mauser rifle. It was used by the German infantry against the first British tanks in World War I and on the Panzerkampfwagen I. On average the K bullet has a one out of three chance to penetrate armor 12–13 mm thick at a range of up to 100 meters.

\- Model 24 Stielhandgranate was the standard hand grenade of the German Army from World War I until the end of World War II. The very distinctive appearance led to it being called a "stick grenade", or a "potato masher" in British Army slang, and is today one of the most easily recognized infantry weapons of the 20th century.

\- Hetaregami: Hetare(Useless, Retard) + Megami(Goddess), pretty sure you know what does this mean.

\- The film reference Kazuma made is from the 'I Am Number Four' a sci-fi film about a guy turns out to be alien being chased around by intergalactic bounty hunter. Not exactly popular, but fits with his current situation for referencing this.

\- Wechselapparat M1917, it was a lightweight modified version of the M.16. Since 1916, the German flamethrower troops upgraded increasingly to the so-called "Wex", a one-man flamethrower of the next generation with an eye-catching annular tank holding twelve liters of fire oil. In the middle of the ring sat a spherical compressed air tank, with its contents the M.16. could be used either in ten flame surges to a max of 30 meters range or fire three bursts up to 100 meters. The ignition of the flame jet was carried out automatically with a small gas Wex saw effective use in 1917/18 and was the basis for a number of flamethrowers including the Model 40 German flamethrower and the British No. 2 Portable Flamethrower in World War II. After the first World War, the Germans were supposed to destroy all their flamethrowers but the most were used by German Freikorps. Some of the Wex were used in Finland in the 1920s. It was also the first man-portable flamethrower created in the history, adding another one original weapon from Germany.

\- Muda: Useless, MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! is a reference for the battle cry of Dio Brando in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series.

Review Response:

\- ArmantusCumPinnae: One day, my freund, one day... And yeah, Germans do make great uniforms. Even their infamous SS uniform became some sort of outfit for 'plays' if you know what I mean.

\- RedSS: Yeah, Gun-Ota is good, I recommend it.

\- FateBurn: Danke, mein freund.

\- XxPokemonMasterxX: Yep, he is a glass cannon, he won't wear any armor at all in combat. Most of the times.

\- Judgment of the Arbiter: Danke, I hope you like this one at least as much as the last chapter or even better(Omake).

That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and faves my story, I'll try my best to write this story to yours and my satisfaction.

P.S. Again to the Germanic reader out there, please correct my words or terms about German if I'm wrong since I'm still learning about your language. Tschüss und Frohe Weihnachten!


	6. Die Auswirkung

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 5 : Die Auswirkung  
**

'Ah, crap! Crap! Crap! This is bad! I'm an idiot!'

I internally swore to myself when looking at the scenery before me.

Fire.

Fire everywhere.

And this fire, more accurately, the forest fire was caused by no one but myself.

Let us recap a little bit.

Our party accepted a quest to hunt down 50 demonic treants in this woods before they can do any harm to the townspeople.

Initially, the tactic we used was proven effective against those monsters. Initially, that is.

Things started to go south when their numbers dropped into around twenties as several lush green trees surrounding us slowly morphed into a hollow and dry tree, in other words, more demonic treants to deal with.

The next thing we knew was that we were surrounded by these monsters without a way out.

In order to solve this situation, I racked my brain to think about a way to escape from our predicament.

Then, a shot of inspiration came to my mind after Megumin told me about their fatal weakness to fire.

With that, I created a flametrooper kit without thinking about our current location.

Worst of all, I was sent into a frenzy with the sole purpose of burning every one of them down regardless of the environmental damage I caused in my wake.

By the time I sobered up from my frenzy, the sight of forest burning greeted me.

Now, I have to rack my brain once again to resolve this situation.

"Kazuma! What should we do!?" Shaking me around, Aqua panicky yelled.

"I'm trying to think of some way to solve this right now! But nothing comes to my mind! Ah crap, should we just run away!?"

"What are you talking about!? If we run away and don't do something, the whole forest will be gone! Not to mention what if there are some people inside the forest right now!?" Darkness retorted to my careless suggestion.

Hey, are you even Darkness? Why did everything you just said make sense?

Returning back to the problem itself, yeah, nothing really comes to my mind until now except telling Megumin to use Explosion on the burning part of this forest, but she doesn't have enough mana to do so.

Come on, Kazuma. Think! There's this plane or tank or riot car that could shoot a huge amount of waters, but those aren't on the list of military equipment.

Ah!

Aqua is a water goddess before she's a hetaregami, right!?

"Hey Aqua, since you're an arch-priest that believes in a certain goddess, could you cast a magic that caused a great downpour or something to extinguish it?" Looking at the panicked Aqua, I asked that question in hope of positive answer.

"AH! That's right!"

Probably realizing my implication, she snapped her fingers as an expression of enlightenment plastered all over her face.

"Of course this great me have such spell for I am the go- I mean the most devout follower of Axis cult under the most benevolent water goddess Aqua-sama! Ufufufu!"

This hetaregami...

"'Sacred Create Water'!" She shouted out.

Along with her chant, a giant magic circle appeared in the sky directly above the places where fire rages on and without any warning, a massive amount of water being poured down from the magic circle.

It did manage to stop the forest fire, but-

"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" I yelled out before I will the flamethrower to disappear and focusing my strength into my legs to run as far as I can.

-it causes a flood of mud and trees due to the massive volume of water simultaneously falling down from the sky.

Seeing the dangerous artificial natural disaster that threatens our lives, four of us tried to outrun the flood.

 _RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!_

Despite running as fast as we could, the loud noise caused by the flood approaching us at crazy fast speed can be heard louder and louder each second passed.

"We've almost there!" I yelled out when I saw the light not very far from our position in the sea of trees.

When we finally could see the town's gate, Aqua yelled something she shouldn't say.

"Yes! We're gonna make it! The flood won't catch up to us!"

"Hey, you hetaregami! Don't jinx i- WAAAAAAAAA!"

"Waaa! Kazuma!"

"UWAAAAHHH!"

"Kyaaaaa!"

But alas, despite our success in getting out of the forest, the flood caught up to us, causing four of us to be swept along toward the town.

Thanks for jinxing us, you damn hetaregami.

* * *

-o-

* * *

A few hours later...

"...Hey..."

Someone called out.

Ugh, where am I?

Why is it so dark here?

What happened to me?

With those kinds of thought popping out of my head, I tried to remember what's going on.

I am going with Aqua, Darkness, and Megumin to do a quest.

Something went wrong, but I can't remember what is it.

"...Hey...okay...wake..."

A voice of someone yelling could be faintly heard as I keep trying to recall my recent memories.

Fire.

Everything is on fire.

'Yes! We're gonna make it! The flood won't catch up to us!'

Ah, I finally remembered.

We got caught by that flood, huh?

Ugh, did I die? Am I in afterlife again? Did everyone die as well?

Those kinds of morbid thought popped up one after another.

"Hey, are you okay!?" Finally, the voice can be heard clearly as I felt a hand pulling me up.

"GUAH!" I panted out as I took off my gas mask. Turns out the lens of my gas mask was covered in thick mud, preventing me from seeing anything.

Looking at the one pulling me up, I see a man dressed like an adventurer helping me to stand up.

Well, this answers that I'm not dead yet. But what about everyone else? And did that flood hit the town?

"Hey! There's another one here!" The man yelled out.

"Yeah, bring em here!" Another man responded.

Following the direction where the man helped me yelled at, I found another adventurer, who is a huge man wearing a breastplate with Aqua, Darkness, and Megumin all covered in mud laying down on the ground, panting.

Another question answered.

"Let's go."

With that, he helps me to walk toward the other man's location. Though, I'd rather call it dragging myself than walking.

After regrouping with my party, I asked about the situation of the town.

Apparently, there's no significant damage to the town thanks to this town's guards who managed to close the gate that prevented debris from the flood to enter the town. Though, some houses and stalls that were located on the outer part suffered moderate damage from the mud.

"Anyway, what happened back there? Some witnesses told us they were seeing forest fire before a giant magic circle appeared in the sky and the next thing they knew, flood. Luckily the town's guards managed to close the gate before it could enter the town." He asked while wryly smiling.

Looking at the direction where he looked at, I saw some houses being covered by mud and some stalls broke with its content being tainted by mud. There are also some people standing in front of those along with children that asked their parents what happened to their home.

Shit, I feel bad for them.

But if they know that our party was the one causing this...

"Uh, when we're in the forest, it was on fire and-" Before I could finish my sentence, I overhear a conversation from some people standing in front of one particular house that was half-buried in mud.

'Mama, where are we going to sleep tonight?' A little girl asked.

'It's okay, we'll manage.' The older woman said in a reassuring tone.

I slowly walk toward my party's position, whispering something to them, and-

""""WE'RE SORRY FOR CAUSING THIS MESS!"""" We shouted out in unison while performing a dogeza.

"So it's you people!?" One of the men whose stall in ruins yelled out in anger.

Walking towards us while holding a 2x4, his intention is obvious.

Though, before he could do whatever he wants, the adventurer who helped me stood in his way.

"Stop it, it's already amazing that they've got guts for admitting it. Let the guild be the one to judge them. Besides, you'll get a remuneration for this anyway."

"But-" The man tries to argue but was silenced by another largely built adventurer standing in his way.

"Okay."

With just a mere stare from the large adventurer, the man decided it's better to not push the matter any further.

"Okay, now then, Mr. the-one-causing-this, would you care for an explanation?"

* * *

-o-

* * *

"Why should I do menial work like this?" Aqua complaints while casting her 'Create Water' instead of 'Sacred Create Water' that brought us into our current predicament to wash away the mud from the floor.

Instead of usually replying or retorting to her complaint, I didn't say anything while scrubbing the dirt off the wall.

As for the reason behind it, let's just say I'm at fault here and leave it at that.

Wearing a sleeveless white sweatshirt and leather pants, both of us are currently cleaning one of the houses that got caught in the flood yesterday.

On the outside of this house, I can see Megumin carrying a basket of fruits to one of the stalls that were already repaired while Darkness that wore the same clothes as I and Aqua carrying a large basket filled with branches and rocks from the flood.

Yeah, this was one of the deal we made in exchange for what we did yesterday.

After returning to the guild yesterday, we got an earful of scolding from the guild's receptionist, Luna-san for what we did.

Owing around two million Eris for the property damage we caused and barely having enough money to pay even half of it, we were forced to take this 'Zivildienst' kind of thing for the people whose houses or stalls got caught by the flood in order to pay the other half of it.

My money went from almost a million Eris to 50,000 Eris in one day due to this and the time I should spend to do quests for leveling ended up wasted on something like this.

Not only that, due to the panic during our escape from the flood, I 'will' all of my weapons to disappear for lightening myself so that I can run faster to avoid the unavoidable flood. Now I have to create them from the scratch again.

To quote a certain magic breaker, such misfortune!

Though I can't complain to anyone but myself. This is my fault after all.

If I didn't use flamethrower back then, this wouldn't happen.

While being a flammenwerfer is cool and all, using it inside a forest is a dumb and dick move.

Next time we're taking a quest inside a forest, I'll forbid the usage of Wechselapparat M1917 and incendiary grenades.

"Hey, don't space out!" I was snapped out of my stupor when I heard a man yelled at me.

"I'm sorry!" I apologized while scrubbing faster.

 _Three Days Later..._

"Good job, next time don't do that again, okay?" A man muttered while putting his hand on my left shoulder.

Looking at the spectacle before me, it's unbelievable that these places were covered by mud and branches from the flood before.

Incidentally, this man is the same man who almost tried to hit us with a 2x4.

Yeah, it took us three days to completely clean every house and fix every stall from mud and branches that came along with the flood.

Now that we're free of our debt, we can finally do some quest again-

"Kazuma, I have a business with my family, so I have to leave." -Darkness.

"Sorry, Kazuma, some of those kind people we had been helping up until now offered me a rather well-paid job, so I'll excuse myself from quests for a while." -Aqua

-or not.

The only one left is Megumin.

"You have any business like them?"

"No."

"Wanna take some easy quest tomorrow?"

"Sure."

With only two of our party's member available for taking quest(including me), I sure am hoping that there is some easy quest tomorrow.

* * *

-o-

* * *

"Let's see... Damn, there's no easy quest for the two of us."

Standing in front of the quest board, I can't find any decent quest for the two of us.

With Aqua and Darkness temporarily out of our party, I can't exactly risk our lives in doing any difficult quest.

On the board, there are several new quests added, but most of them are advanced ones and unsuitable for us to undertake.

When the easiest quest on board is to risk your life meeting Rookie Killer deep inside the mountain range, it should really speak on how difficult the rest of those quests.

"Hmm, I don't really mind to take any difficult quest because my Explosion will surely eliminate any threats."

"While I'd like to agree with that, our team only consist of us both, if you use Explosion and turns out there are many monsters appearing afterward, it'd be the end of us."

"Umu, that's true as well. I wonder if we should kill that demon king army's boss to solve this?"

Hey, you just suggest something dangerous, aren't you?

"While that would rack us a large sum of money and exp, it's impossible by the two of us only."

"Is that so?" She muttered while looking dejected.

Seriously, don't feel dejected after I reject your dangerous thought.

Now, what should we do?

"Hey, Satou Kazuma, isn't it?" A voice said from behind me.

Looking back, I saw a man in heavy armor with a sword sheathed on his back walking towards us with two people, a girl, and another man following him from behind.

"Oh! It's Taylor-san!"

Taylor, he's the large built adventurer who helped us during the flood incident.

Incidentally, he and another adventurer(Dust) that helped us weren't exactly looking for people to save from the aftermath, but they were looting for anything valuable that might come along with the flood but found us instead.

"How's your condition?"

"I'm fine, one of our party member is an Arch-priest who possesses a good healing ability, so I'm fine."

"Good, by the way, I almost couldn't recognize you, what's that kind of clothing?"

"Ah, this?"

Explaining to him the same thing I told to Darkness, he accepted it.

"Cool, it looks great."

"Well, thank you."

Finally, someone who admires the coolness of WWI Era military uniform!

"Hey, Taylor, who is that guy?" The girl behind him asked.

"Ah, sorry for not introducing you, this is Satou Kazuma. Satou Kazuma, this is Rin-

"Nice to meet you." I politely bow myself to the young girl in a green cloak.

"Ah, nice to meet you too, I'm Rin, the wizard of our party."

-and this is Keith."

Then, a lean man with a bow strapped on his back steps forward.

"Name's Keith, the archer of our party."

"Yes, nice to meet you. My class is Militärbeauftragter, I'll spare you the detail, but it's quite similar to the archer. By the way, this is Megumin, one of my party's member."

"Osu. I'm Megumin, an Arch-wizard!" She dramatically declared while striking a pose.

Hey, don't go chuuni here!

Luckily, they just smiled in amusement in response before Taylor continues his sentence.

"By the way, there's another member of our party, but he's-

Police Office

"Hey, I swear that I didn't steal anything!" A man yelled to the police officer in front of him.

 _Thud_

A pouch filled with coins fell from the yelling man's pocket.

"Ehehe..."

In response to the man's weak laugh, the officer just arched his eyebrows before rolling his eyes in disbelief.

Back to Kazuma

"-in some sort of business. His name is Dust, but you already met him anyway. So, what are you doing? You had been staring at the quest's board for a while now."

"Well, that Crusader and Arch-priest of my party are also in some sort of business as well. That's why it's just the two of us looking for a decent quest we could take, but couldn't find any." I explained while shrugging my shoulders.

"I see, we're also looking for a quest and since both of us respectively missing some of our party's member, why don't we do a joint quest?" He suggested.

"Hmm, that's a good idea. Well, we'll be in your care then."

"Umu, as long as you're not being a burden, it's fi- OUCH!"

Hearing her boast, I couldn't help but smack Megumin's head as a reflex.

"Forgive my party member here, she's a little bit eccentric."

"Uh-huh."

After that, he chooses a quest of goblin's camp extermination. An advanced level quest with the reward of 500,000 Eris with an additional 20,000 Eris per goblin killed during our quest.

Apparently, they built a small encampment in the forest nearby our town due to the demon king army's boss coming to the castle in the deeper part of the forest, forcing those goblins to move into the forest nearby town. While they weren't much of a threat, a pack of Rookie Killers that really love to hang out nearby them made things much more complicated, hence the advanced level.

Hiding behind a bush, I use my binocular to spot their encampment and those who are patrolling the area.

After I'm done, I can confirm, this is indeed an advanced level quest.

There are around a hundred of those goblins patrolling around and that's not counting those living in the shacks. Though the dangerous thing about this is why I haven't seen any Rookie Killer at all. Either they're in the same position of us who is observing these goblins or they haven't been around yet.

My only question is why does Taylor pick this job? Apparently, the answer is currently sitting beside me with her crimson eyes shining in anticipation.

Right...

"Okay, here's the situation. According to my observation, there seventy goblins patrolling around the encampment, not including those who might be inside the shacks, and no Rookie Killer spotted, so let's be on our guard and be prepared for an ambush that those things could do."

"Alright, if that's the case, let's go with the original plan. If Rookie Killer pops up, we'll use your plan, Kazuma."

Yeah, in this joint quest, Taylor will be our leader and his plan will take more priority than mine.

Not that I'm complaining, it's refreshing to follow an order rather than giving it out for a change of pace and his plan is a pretty solid one.

"Understood. Then, let's go, Megumin."

With that, we proceed to follow the plan.

Together with Megumin, we climb a hill nearby.

Standing on the hill, I use my binocular to see their encampment and apparently, they haven't noticed us.

As for Megumin.

"Oh, darkness shrouded in light,

Frenzied blaze clad in night,

In the name of the crimson demons,

let the collapse of thine origin manifest.

Summon before me the root of thy power hidden within the lands of the kingdom of demise!

Explosion!"

 _BOOM!_

Right in the middle of the goblin's encampment, a bright flash of light erupted as her spell hit the mark.

When the light fades out, we can see the destruction of goblin's encampment.

Though, there are some survivors of around twenty goblins or so.

But it went according to our plan.

Those surviving goblins now restlessly looking for the source of the spell and it's Taylor's group turn to shine.

"HAAAA!"

Charging forward with his greatsword, Taylor draws in the goblins' aggro on him, making them focusing their attention on him.

Behind Taylor, Rin is chanting something while Keith notched an arrow and aim it at the goblins' way.

Cutting down any goblin coming his way while preventing any of them from slipping through his guard, Taylor was simply an unstoppable tank.

I wished Darkness could learn one or two things from him.

"Watch out, arrows!" Keith shouted out.

"Wind Curtain!"

Finishing her chant, a small gust of wind flew from Rin's staff toward Taylor's body for a second before settling down into a swirling wind around him.

 _WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH_

Flying arrows that were aimed at Taylor were immediately repelled by the barrier of wind surrounding his body.

"Good job, Rin! Yosh, ORYAAAAAA!"

Cutting down another goblin charging at him, Taylor charges forward.

"Well, at this rate, our quest will be done without much trouble. Though I feel bad on barely contributing anything at all." I said while smiling wryly.

Listening to that, Megumin who lays on the ground arches her eyebrows.

"Huh? You did contribute by scouting them, right?"

"Well, that's true, but I wished I'd do more things to be useful for the team. Look, you eliminated most of those goblins while Rin and his party clear out the rest of them and I'm here barely doing anything to assist them in any way."

It didn't take long for my stupid wish to be granted.

As the last goblin fell to Taylor's blade, a black shadow leaped out from one of the bushes towards him.

Barely able to dodge the incoming creature, Taylor grits his teeth.

Failing its pounce, the creature landed few meters behind Taylor and his group.

Looking closely, it's-

"Shit! A Rookie Killer!" Taylor cursed while two of his party member trembled in fear.

"Mein Gott, me and my fucking big mouth." I cursed.

Taking my recently recreated Gewehr 98 that was slung over my shoulder, I immediately take a prone position and set the bipod down.

Yeah, unlike my previous Gewehr 98 equipped with a bayonet and Warner & Swasey Model 1913 Prismatic Musket Scope, the current Gewehr 98 I used is equipped with a scope and a bipod for scouting and sniping.

While I took my time to set my weapon, the Rookie Killer didn't just stand and wait as Taylor barely able to block its attack.

"Tsk, Rin, Keith, go away and leave me. I'll buy you guys some time. HAAAAA!" He shouted while taking a stance to block another pounce from the Rookie Killer.

Only for it to be a feint as it side-stepped him and aimed at-

"Rin! Get away!" Taylor shouts in desperation when he noticed its intention.

"Shit! I couldn't make it!" Keith cursed as he couldn't notch another arrow in time to shoot the incoming Rookie Killer.

"KYAAAAAA!"

Closing her eyes in front of her impending doom, Rin screamed in terror as she waits for her time to come-

 _DopanN!_

-only to hear the sound of a gunshot.

Opening her eyes, she saw the dreaded Rookie Killer lays on the ground beside her, whimpering in pain.

 _DopanN!_

Another loud noise similar to before resounded again as this time, the Rookie Killer quit whimpering as a hole with blood flowing out of it appears on its head.

"What was that?" Taylor muttered, being the first to snapped out of his stupor.

"Hey, don't you forget my existence here!" I shouted out.

Looking at our direction, they saw a man in a prone position on the ground holding some sort of strange stick with a smoke rising out of one of its end.

That is me.

"Kazuma was that you!?" Taylor shouts while pointing at the dead Rookie Killer.

"Yeah! It's- Look out! There's four of them incoming!" I shouted as my enemy detection skill warned me about the incoming threat.

"Shit!" He cursed while looking at his current situation: Being surrounded by four Rookie Killer.

"Fight defensively! Don't let your guard down while I eliminate them one by one!"

"Understood!"

With that, despite being scared by their situation, unlike before where they were panicking like this is the last day of their life, their movement wasn't as sloppy as before.

That's because they trusted me.

I'll kindly respond their trust.

 _DopanN!_

A Rookie Killer who didn't move from its current position dies.

The rest of them instantly went restless and trying to look for the one killing their kind.

"Come on! You want some of me!? Come on!" Taylor taunted.

The attention of those three immediately shifts into Taylor.

That was the beginning of how things go south-

 _DopanN!_

-for those Rookie Killer that is.

* * *

-o-

* * *

After completing our quest and on our way back.

"That was amazing man! Now I see why your party are filled with high-class jobs!" Taylor said in amazement.

"Yeah, and the Explosion from Megumin-san is great too! I wonder if I can be like that one day." Rin muttered while looking at Megumin with beaming eyes.

Please, do not copy her in trying to be a great wizard.

"Kukuku, if you train yourself every single day, one day you might achieve the level of what I am today, young girl." Megumin haughtily said.

"What are you talking about, you and Rin are probably around the same age. And don't say that when I'm carrying you like this, it doesn't suit you." I retorted.

"Muu..."

"By the way, Kazuma-san, what is that weapon? You did tell me that your class is kinda like an archer and fight using range advantage, but I thought you'd use a bow and not that magic stick." Keith interrupts while looking at the rifle slung over my shoulder.

"It's not a magic stick. It doesn't need or possesses magic to function. This is a weapon back in my hometown, it's called a rifle. This weapon fires a lead with impossible speed that could almost pierce anything."

"I see... I'd like to have that kind of weapon one day. By the way, where's your hometown? If I might visit the place, I could buy one of it?"

"Ah, my hometown's name is Japan."

"Japan? Never heard of it."

"Well, this is a huge world, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know it."

"I see..."

By the end of our banter, we didn't realize that the adventurer's guild building is right in front of us.

After claiming the reward and splitting it equally, we part ways.

"Well, if fate chooses so, let us do a joint quest again, Satou Kazuma." Taylor said while offering his fist.

Smiling at that, I bumped it before saying:

"Yeah, let's do it. I do enjoy our time teaming up like that."

"Well then, goodb-"

"Wait! Wait! WAIT! ! !" Rin suddenly yelled out, causing four of us to look at her in surprise.

"What is it, Rin?" Taylor asked with a worried tone.

"Why are you two talking like that?"

""What do you mean?"" Both I and Taylor replied.

"It's not like both our party are going to a journey, right? Why do you two talk like we're not going to see each other for a long time?"

She got a point.

"Hahahaha! Well, Rin is right. I wonder what's up with me trying to dramatize things!" Taylor laughs heartily.

"That's true." I could only wryly smile.

With that, we went separate ways, but not exactly that separate as both of our parties aren't going anywhere from this town.

* * *

-o-

* * *

"WAAAA! You idiot! Why didn't you tell me about doing that quest!?" Aqua yelled at me.

Stop it, people are looking at us, hetaregami.

"Hey, Aqua, didn't you say that you are going to do a high-paid job in the town?" Megumin interjects before biting down a piece of fried toad in her hand.

"Yes! But I'd never expect for the quest you two did would pay higher!"

Yeah, our reward from doing that quest is great.

The thing is, while the original reward is 500,000 Eris because there are around one hundred goblins we've killed and in addition to the death of five Rookie Killers, the final reward is 5,000,000 Eris which was split into 1,000,000 Eris per person.

That's why I regain back my fortune.

Meanwhile, Aqua who did a labor work only earns 15,000 Eris.

And now, she's complaining about it.

She really does have a bad luck, doesn't she?

"So, what do you want to do about it?" I asked while dipping a bread in my hand into my soup.

"I want to do a quest! A quest that will earn me a lot of money!"

"Hee~ Good luck with that." I replied before biting into my bread.

Hmm, it tastes good.

"Huh? What's with that attitude? Aren't you glad that I'm back in action?"

"No, it's just that there is no available quest for the adventurer of our level. That's why today I and Megumin are going to do something else."

"What are you talking about!? Can't you see those quests on the board!? Are you blin- Eh?"

Putting down the bread in my hand to the table, I grabbed her by the collar and drag her toward the quest board.

"Look closely, you hetaregami! Those are very advanced or absurd quest! Yesterday, we were barely able to take a quest, and even then it's an advanced quest! Can't you see that trying to do any of these quests would amount to suicide!? You're the blind one here!" I snapped.

"Uu...Sniffle..."

"Uu?"

"UWAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Kazuma is a meanie! Brute! Stupid NEET!"

"Aaaahhhhhhh! Stop it, everyone is looking at us now! Stop it!"

"Kazuma, you brought this on yourself."

"Hey, Megumin, you're not helping at all!"

"UWAHHHHHHH!"

"I understand! I understand! Next time! If you find a high-paying yet still plausible quest, we'll do it together!"

"*sniffle* Really?"

"Really."

"Well, that is a must, obviously." She said in a haughty tone.

 _Bonk!_

I hit her head, hard.

After that, we finished our breakfast before going on our own way.

Aqua didn't take a quest, instead, she took a labor work just like yesterday.

Hang in there, hetaregami.

Meanwhile, I and Megumin went out of town at Megumin's request.

"What is so important that you accepted not taking any quest about this?"

Yeah, this morning before the whole Aqua shenanigans, we were both scouting for a quest to take, but all of them are no good. Despite that, I would have imagined that Megumin would take a quest paper, show it to me only to be an absurd quest, and I retort about it, that kind of routine. So it came as a shock when she said we should give up looking for a quest today since we've earned a lot yesterday in both level or money and asking me to accompany her to someplace outside the town.

"I'll show you when we're there."

"Suit yourself, but don't do anything crazy."

At that comment, she instantly gets flustered.

"What are you talking about? Who do you think I am!?"

"A chuunibyou." I deadpanned.

"Muu... Ah, we're here."

When she said that, I followed her line of sight to see a beautiful scenery surrounding me and a cliff with an old castle built on top of it can be seen from afar.

Is she going to ask me for viewing this beautiful scenery together?

"'Explosion!'"

I guess not.

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

-o-

* * *

A/N:

Alright, this is one of my earlier than usual release since I have some free time! This chapter is about the consequences/impact of what Kazuma did or thought, hence the title "Die Auswirkung" that means "The Consequence/Impact". For the event of this chapter, as usual, breaking from the canon and taking a future canon event, put it into a blender of idea, throw it out and voila! That aside, the first arc would soon be over. Note: Major canon event will still exist, but heavily altered by our good ol' Kazuma which will result in the canon diverging due to the butterfly effect. Now let's go into the term:

\- Dogeza: known as sitting right on the ground is an element of Japanese manners by kneeling directly on the ground and bowing to prostrate oneself as touching one's head to the floor. It is used to show deference to the most highly revered high-class person, as a deep apology and to express the desire for a favor from said person.

\- 2x4: A plank due to its common size(even though it's really 1.5x3.5" in real life) that could be found just about everywhere at hardware stores, construction sites, home renovations, garages, and just about anywhere else there's wood to be found. It's an unassuming little item, highly flexible in its possible applications, able to serve as either construction material for building a home, protecting said home against unwanted intrusion or even as improvised weapon.

\- Such Misfortune: A reference to Touma from a certain magical index as this quote is synonymous with him due to his misfortune in most things he does.

\- Zivildienst: German, translated verbatim to "Civilian Service", although "compulsory paid community service" is more contextually equivalent. However, the official translation by the German government is "alternative civilian service" is the civilian branch of the national service systems in Austria and Switzerland. In Germany as well Zivildienst was the alternative service to military service until the suspension of conscription in 2011. It is a means for conscripted persons who are conscientious objectors to fulfill their national service, typically in the fields of social work (e.g. hospitals, retirement homes, emergency medical services) and, although rarely, environmental protection, agriculture, and public administration. As such, it is exempt from the general ban on forced labor by the European Convention on Human Rights.

Review Response:

\- RedSS: Hahaha, I'm glad you enjoyed it and for the gun-ota, you can read it in Omega Harem Translation(google it).

\- ArmantusCumPinnae: Danke auch, mein freund. About panzerfaust, I kinda doubt if I'll include it or not, but let's just see about it.

\- Anonymous: Danke!

\- Judgment of the Arbiter: Ihr willkommen, mein freund.

\- Guest: Sure thing!

\- MysticSpider: Already responded in PM.

\- satuross: Danke! And yeah, it's proceeding quite well indeed! But I'll wait till the full volume tl done before reading it.

That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and favs my story, I'll try my best to write this story to your and mine's satisfaction.

P.S. To Germanic reader out there, please correct my words or terms about German if I'm wrong since I'm still learning about your language. Tschüss!


	7. Der Grenadier

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **C** **hapter 6: Der Grenadier**

Laying down on the ground, Megumin stares at the clear blue sky above. Not because she's trying to enjoy the beautiful scenery, but due to her fatigue caused by casting her spell at that castle on a hill earlier.

Standing beside her is me with arms crossed and twitching eyebrows.

"Megumin, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"Training. We Crimson Magic Clan will die if we don't cast an explosion every single day."

Bullshit, she's fine as she is right now despite not casting explosion at all for three days during our 'Zivildienst'.

"That's a lie, isn't it?"

"Of course not, we Crimson Magic Clan never lies."

"Ah yes, and Aqua is the smartest person on earth." I replied sarcastically.

"Muu... Anyway, can you carry me back? I can't go back on my own."

Is this why she told me to come with her? To carry her back?

"So I am just a transportation for you to go home with?"

"Of course not! You're not only a transportation! You're also a sentry to protect me if there's any monster attacking us when I'm down like this."

"You're completely missing the point! And that's even worse!" I retort.

"Stop complaining, you're going to get old faster if you keep complaining about every little thing."

"And whose fault is that?"

"Anyway, let's go back Kazuma."

"Fine."

Crouching down in front of her, I wait for her to clung on my back before carrying her back to town.

Walking back to the town, I realized that the scenery around us is beautiful.

It's rather surreal as I didn't pay any attention to it before since every time I returned to the town from quests, I'm either too tired to care or just want to quickly rest my body.

As much as absurd and stupid this world is, I have to give the credit where the credit is due. With fresh air, great scenery, clean environment, and untainted sky and river, this world's condition far surpass my own in terms of its nature.

My line of thought was abruptly disrupted as I felt a tug on my shoulders.

"Hey, hey, Kazuma."

"What is it, Megumin?"

"If there aren't any decent quest for us to take, could you accompany me for this?"

Seriously?

"What's in it for me anyway?"

"Aren't you glad that you can see my amazing explosion? Isn't that enough?" She said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That's not beneficial to me at all."

"Why don't you use your weapon during my training as well? I'm pretty sure you never use it in town since you'd get scolded if you do due to the loud noise just like my explosion."

"Hmm..."

Weighing down pros and cons of helping her with this, I lost myself in my thought.

Pros:

\- Her Explosion's potency could be improved

\- I could relax due to the beautiful scenery around here

\- I can train my skill without the need to worry about being scolded

\- Not skipping a leg day.

Cons:

\- Being Megumin's means of transportation.

\- Being Megumin's security officer.

Since there are more pros than cons, I'll take the obvious choice.

"Fine, but don't do anything crazy."

"H-huh!? Who do you think I am!?" She flusteredly said.

And so, Megumin and I started our new daily routine.

Braving the icy rain.

Wearing a raincoat, I held an umbrella above Megumin's head.

"'Explosion!'"

 _BOOM!_

 _SPLASH!_

"Achoo! Let's get back Kazuma." Sneezing from the cold, she muttered that while laying down in a puddle of water.

Enduring a scorching sun in the afternoon.

Wearing a sleeveless shirt and track pants, I sat on a tarp I prepared earlier while drinking a cold neroid swish from my thermos.

"'Explosion!'"

 _BOOM!_

Dragging back Megumin to the tarp, I offered her my drink.

Or in a simple refreshing morning when we went for a jog.

Observing Megumin chanting her spell, I wiped the sweat off my forehead before pulling down the zipper of my tracksuit.

"'Explosion!'"

 _BOOM!_

"Good work as always." I complimented.

No matter the time, Megumin would cast her spell at that castle every single day.

"'Explosion!'"

 _BOOM!_

"Hmm... It's weaker than usual. Even my M24's blast is still better than that."

"Guh, for my mighty spell to be compared with that cheap tool..."

Sometimes I'd rate her explosion-

Though, it's not only her who sharpen her skill with that explosion alone.

"Fire in the hole!" I yelled out before covering my ears.

 _WHUMP!_

 _KABOOM!_

An explosion erupted in a distance.

"Ooh, that's a nice explosion, but as always, it could never stand a chance against my amazing 'Explosion'." Megumin commented from behind.

Laying down on the ground in front of me is Granatenwerfer 16, a type of classic spigot mortar that fires 400 gram of high explosive small grenade.

-sometimes she's the one rating my 'explosion'.

And yes, every comment that came out of her mouth is about how my explosion is 'ok' but then added the fact that none of them could surpass her own great/amazing 'explosion'.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, Ms. Explosion. Your spell cost so much mana that you'll always collapse after that while mine cost lower than yours but yield a weaker result." I replied sarcastically before 'willing' my mortar to disappear.

"Kukuku, that is obvious."

Initially, she's pissed when I told her about my explosion, but let it slide when she found out it couldn't surpass hers which is why her comments always ended up with 'it's good, but not as good as my explosion' variant. Due to this, I'd really love to see her expression one day when I could create Howitzer cannon or Bomber plane.

With that kind of routine every day due to no quest to do, I was even able to judge whether the condition of the explosion spell was good or bad.

"'Explosion'–!"

 _KABOOOOOMMM!_

Whistling at the display of her unusual great explosion, I admire the sight before my eyes.

"Oh, that feels good. The impact of the explosion could be felt through my bones from here, followed by the air tremor that followed immediately after. It is strange that the castle could still stand but… Nice explosion!" I compliment her while giving an 'OK' gesture with my right hand.

"Nice explosion! Kuku, finally Kazuma understands the path of the explosion more now. How about this? Kazuma, do you want to learn explosion magic?"

"Hmm, while I would like to learn this one day, I don't think my class would allo-"

 _Ping!_

Taking out the source of that noise, I look at my adventurer card to find that something popped up in the learn-able skill.

Explosion -50 Skill Points. Description: blah, blah, blah...

Is this some kind of a joke?

And what's with that absurd amount of skill points required!?

"Well, apparently I can, but with that amount of skill points, I'll hold it for now and learn it for later."

"That's fine too."

Megumin discussed such things with a smile.

Just like this, we talked about the beauty of the explosion, how to improve it, and chatted about the way of the explosion.

By the end of the week of our routine, we called each other as "Explosion Kameraden".

* * *

-o-

* * *

One Week Later...

Sitting next to Megumin and across Aqua, three of us are currently having a breakfast before heading out today.

Ordering the same menu that consists of fried toad's legs and neroid swish, we silently enjoy our meal. Though, that silence didn't last quite long.

"Kazuma, everyone, I'm back."

Coming from the door is Darkness with her armor back. Wait, is it me or is her armor that shiny?

"Oh, it's you?" I blandly replied before returning back to enjoy my meal.

"What's with that reaction? Don't tell me that you forgot about me, thinking that in my way back, I got ravag-"

Tuning out before she could ruin my mood, I silently pray to whatever god or goddess who might listen to my plea of making this perverted crusader stop being a pervert.

Oh right, I do have a goddess right in front of me who can listen, but I doubt she could grant me that. Not to mention due to her idiocy, she might make it worse.

Pausing before she takes a bite out of a frog's legs in her hand, she stares back at me whose gaze focused on her.

"Huh? Why are you looking at me like that, it's creepy, so stop it."

Who the heck would stare at you with lewd intention after knowing your true color, hetaregami?

Ignoring her for now, I urged Darkness to take a seat or order any meal if she hadn't any before coming here.

Apparently, she did have a breakfast before coming here and just sitting there to wait for us.

Finishing our breakfast, we decided to look for a quest that might not be suitable for us and the day will end in me and Megumin doing our new routine again.

Funny, it turns out that I was wrong.

"A simple quest of hunting some stray goblins roaming around the plains?"

"Yes, it pays really well too! Each goblin yields 20,000 Eris and there might be around twenty of them with the completion reward of 100,000 Eris! Isn't it great?"

Yeah, and suspicious as well.

Remind me the last time we were on a quest to destroy goblin encampment it ended up in being ambushed by four Rookie Killer? Hunting what should be an easy picking which ended up in a forest fire and three days doing 'Zivildienst'? Escorting a merchant only to face twenty Rookie Killers?

I'm starting to get paranoid when remembering almost every 'easy' quest we took ended up in being the opposite of easy.

"Hey, don't you feel suspicious at all about how is this quest being an 'easy' one despite none of the guild's recent quest being easy? Don't you think that those goblins might be herded by some Rookie Killers to lure some poor sod newbie adventurer for an easy picking?" I skeptically asked.

"Kazuma, Rookie Killer doesn't that stupid to herd them into an open area. Those monsters prefer to herd those goblins to a small, enclosed area inside the forest so that they can fight effectively. Moreover, if they do appear, you can always leave me behind..." Explaining that to me, Darkness starts to pant at the end and-

"Alright, that's enough of you." I interrupted her before she could say something I'd rather not hear.

"So, knowing that, let's take this quest!" Ripping off the quest notice from the board, Aqua cheerfully shouts. "A lot of money, here I come!" She dashes out.

"Oh mein Gott."

I facepalmed.

Seeing that, Darkness and Megumin could only wryly smile.

* * *

-o-

* * *

A Few Minutes Later

Walking out of the town's gate, we are moving toward the specified place where those goblins located.

Unlike usual, I didn't carry my usual Gewehr 98 and opted for something different.

Hanging loosely beside my hip is a newly made weapon after I found out that my mana could barely create it.

Using the same type of bullet with my Luger, it's a Bergmann MP18 with 32 rounds 'snail' drum magazine, German's sub-machine gun with a low rate of fire yet better accuracy and range than the other sub-machine gun in its time of the first world war.

I tested it yesterday along with accompanying Megumin in our usual routine, but I haven't used it against the monster, so this might be a good time to do it.

Climbing up a small hill, I take out my binocular to see what lies before us beyond this small hill.

And it turns out to be right.

There are around twenty of those goblins roaming about in the plains below.

"Okay, it seems like the quest description is unusually right as there are indeed around twenty goblins roaming around there. So, let's use the usual tactics." I paused before taking out my combat knife and draw something on the ground. When I'm done, I pointed at a circle that represents this hill where we stood and a stick-man drawing of a person wearing wizard hat and holding staff inside the circle. "Megumin, you'll cast explosion to them and try to take out as much as possible from this hill."

"Roger." She nodded while holding her staff tight.

"Good." Then, I pointed at another stick-man with the alphabet 'M' inscribed on its head and holding a sword before drawing a line from it to a circle filled with many small stick-man drawings. "Darkness, you'll attract any survivor from Megumin's initial assault. And-" Stopping my sentence from completing, I pointed at a stickman holding a pistol and draw several pointy arrows from it that face the direction of those goblins. "-I'll flank them and gun them down with my weapon."

Darkness didn't say anything but nodded resolutely. And is she panting in excitement? She didn't, right? Let's just hope she didn't.

Then, I shift my gaze to Aqua.

Pointing at a stick-man with a kanji '馬鹿' written on its head, I draw a circle around it that includes Megumin's stick-man inside.

"Your job is to protect Megumin after she cast her spell and to heal us."

Aqua nodded as well.

"Okay, now that I already explained the plan, is there something you want to ask?"

Aqua immediately raises her hand at that.

"What is it, Aqua?" I asked with arched eyebrows.

Somehow, I feel that her question will be something bad.

"What's with your suck as hell drawings?"

I knew it!

"Yosh! Let's commence the plan!" I shout out while ignoring her stupid question.

"Hey, are you purposely ignoring my question!?"

Complain as much as you want, Megumin and Darkness didn't pay any attention to it and currently following my plan, you hetaregami.

Right now Megumin stood above the small hill we're on in front of us with her back facing us and her front facing those goblins.

"Hey, Kazuma." Taking a glance at me behind her, Megumin said in an unusually serious tone.

"What is it now, Megumin?" I asked in a similarly serious tone while gulping down.

"Taking some of them out is fine, but you don't mind if I take all of them out, do you?" Somehow as she said that, a breeze of wind billows, making Megumin's robe fluttered dramatically.

Where did you get that reference? Why the wind blows like that to make her look more dramatic instead of revealing her underwear? And why do I feel a certain tanned man with slicked back white hair's theme song would play anytime soon?

"I am the Arch-Wizard of Explosion

I have cast over a thousand explosions

Unknown to giving up, nor known to fatigue

My whole life was... Explosion!"

 _BOOM!_

My jaw simply dropped. Not because of the power of her explosion, nope, I'm too used to it due to our routine. Not because of how many goblins she took out, seriously, because her noisy chant, more than half of their number managed to scurry away in time from being caught in its blast. It's because of her chant.

If I could describe it in one word, it's 'WHAT?'

In three words, 'WHAT THE F*CK!?'

In six words, 'WHERE DID YOU GET THAT REFERENCE!?'

In my shocked state, time didn't stop or slow down like those in manga or anime where time is frozen or slowed considerably to give an exposition or flashback if there's something important about to happen to reader/watcher like in Capt*in Ts*basa or JoJ*. Wait, I don't think the latter could be qualified as this due to the time stopping being literal in the story.

Back to the present, Darkness was already pulling the attention of every goblin in the area to her while Megumin is laying down on the ground with Aqua sitting beside her.

Let's just end this quickly.

Releasing the safety lock in my sub-machine gun, I immediately run as fast as I could with the boost gained from my passive skill of Infanterie.

Circling them around, I aimed my gun at them and-

 _TATATATATATATATATATATA!_

The battle was over before I knew it.

Despite shooting it in few bursts and carefully avoiding to hit Darkness, those remaining goblins fell rather quickly. It took one and probably half of my sub-machine gun's magazine to kill them all.

But despite this, we aren't letting our guard down for any Rookie Killer that might pop out of nowhere.

Only for that to not happen.

"Am I overly paranoid?" I murmured.

But still, I have this nagging feeling that something weird must be going on for us to not have any weird crap happening in our quest. Let's just hope that it's true that I'm just overly paranoid.

With that, we simply head back to town to claim our reward.

* * *

-o-

* * *

I knew something weird must be happening if we didn't encounter any problem in our quest.

Right now, inside the adventurer's guild, there is almost no one present here. Not only that, when we walked back in town, there aren't many people wandering through the street.

"Kazuma-san and his party? Didn't you listen to the announcement earlier!?" The guild's receptionist, Luna-san exclaimed when seeing us.

"What are you saying? We just came back from doing a quest, how do we suppose to know what happened? Anyway, what's going on with this?"

"A Demon King Army's Boss appeared in the front gate earlier! Right now, every adventurer in this town are currently meeting it or engaging it." She said anxiously.

Shit.

What's that kind of late game enemy doing in this town full of newbie adventurers!?

Wait, it does make some sense as killing newbie adventurers would prevent those newbies from rising into power and become a threat to the demon king army.

But still!

"Hey, what should we d-" I wanted to ask in panic for meeting such powerful adversary, but-

"Hehehehe..."

"Ufufufu..."

"This is it..."

All three of my companion is smiling eerily at that information.

"Isn't it obvious, Kazuma? This is a perfect opportunity to gain a huge sum of money in one go!" Aqua enthusiastically shouted with beaming eyes.

Ah, this hetaregami is going crazy again.

"Although I'm dead tired now, if you can hold that boss for twelve hours, I can at least cast my amazing explosion at him."

This chuunibyou... And how the heck could we wait for twelve hours to kill it? If that monster was appointed as the boss, it would surely kill us even before one hour passed!

"Megumin-san, don't you worry, even if it might be impossible, I'll use my body and spirit to hold him as long as I can."

Alright, my party is hopeless.

After that, I compromised with them to at least observe the situation before jumping into the fray.

With that, we went to the front gate.

I expect to see a bloodshed between the boss and newbie adventurers or a battlefield filled with corpses and weapons laying around the ground from the slaughter.

But the sight that greets me is unbelievable.

"Four... Three... Two... Don't make me kill you all little runt for protecting some explosion maniac!"

Yes, a demon king army's boss, specifically, a Dullahan yelling out loud like a kid throwing some temper tantrum standing on a small hill in front of us.

What's going on here?

Conveniently, there's Taylor's party nearby.

"Hey Taylor, what's going on here?" I whispered to the tense Taylor from behind.

"I-It's a demon king army's boss, it came here looking for some wizard that keeps casting explosion every day on its castle."

Shit.

Actually, it wasn't some wizard, but more like one wizard and one mortar.

"Wait, since when did you arriv- Err-, Kazuma-san? Could that party member of yours is the one that keeps casting an explosion spell to its castle?" Taylor asked out loud with shaky voice while pointing at Megumin behind my back.

Hearing that-

'That's true, that girl recently quit casting her noisy spell around.'

'Yeah, she's the only one who could cast that high-level spell around here.'

'Her party is also filled with problematic people.'

While saying that, adventurers in front of us purposely move aside to let that Dullahan gets a clear view of me and Megumin.

"So, it's you, huh?"

"Hmph." In response to Dullahan's inquiry, Megumin just snorts before getting off from my back.

Hey, what are you planning to do?

Walking toward the Dullahan until their distance shortened to mere 10 meters and faced each other.

Not too far behind her is our party, standing by for anything that might happen.

"So it's you…! You are the moron who cast explosion on my castle every day? If you knew I was the boss of the demon army and want to challenge me to a fight, then enter the castle! If not, then just hide in town and tremble! Why are you bothering me with such evil means? I knew there were only low-level adventurers in town! I wanted to leave such minor characters alone, but you can't catch a clue and come boom boom boom with your spells every day…! Is there something wrong with your head?"

"My name is Megumin! An Arch-Wizard that controls the strongest magic, Explosion!" Instead of answering the Dullahan's question, she struck a pose and gallantly declared.

"Are you trying to mock me? What's with that weird name?" The Dullahan deadpanned.

"That's not it!" She retorted. After calming and composing herself, she struck a pose again before declares. "I hail from the crimson magic clan, the elite wizard of this town. I cast explosion magic continuously in order to lure you, the boss of the demon army out…! As I planned, you came to town alone after being tricked, your end is near!"

"Hey Aqua, Darkness, did you know? I brought that girl along for casting and training her magic, I wonder when did I say it is for luring that boss?" I murmured loudly enough for Megumin to hear, causing her to face to go red.

"Hmmp, whatever. I didn't come here to mess with peasants like you all. I am here to investigate something. I will be staying in that castle, for the time being, so don't cast explosion spell anymore. Understand?"

"That is like asking me to die. Those of the Crimson magic clan need to cast explosion spell once every day, or we would die."

"Hey, hey, do you think I am that stupid!? I've met some Crimson magic clan before and they didn't die for not casting explosion a day!"

Ah shit, she pissed him again.

I looked at Aqua, she was happily watching Megumin messing around with the Dullahan.

The Dullahan placed its head on its right hand and shrugged.

"You don't plan to give up explosion magic no matter what? Even though I had taken the side of darkness, I was a knight before and have no interest in slaughtering the weak. But if you continue to bother me with such things around the castle, I have my way of handling things too."

The Dullahan emitted a dangerous aura, making Megumin took a few steps back.

Then, she did something unexpected.

"Hmph, do you really think I'm scared by your bluff? Do you expect, I, Megumin, to be afraid of you? Then you'll regret doing that, because-" She took another few steps back and pushes me forward. And yelled. "This man is my accomplice! Despite being inferior to my glorious explosion, he also could perform similar thing like I do! We are explosion kameraden! And we shall take you down!"

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! What the fuck did she just say!?

"Hou? Is that so? You really do have a death wish, huh?" The Dullahan smirks.

Then, it points its finger at me.

Oh shit, what is it going to do?

"Although I don't like using this spell or causing death with it, but well, let this be the lesson to teach you not to mess with me! I shall predict your death! You shall di-"

 _TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!_

Firing my sub-machine gun at him in panic, I intended to prevent it from completing the chant.

Only for-

"Hot! HotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHot! HOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT!" Rolling on the ground as if on fire, the Dullahan lets out painful cries as smokes slowly come out of several places I shot in his armor.

"Eh?" I dumbly murmured.

Shouldn't undead be immune to pain? Especially if its a higher class undead?

"Hey, hey, Kazuma, praise me more." Aqua suddenly interjects while signaling me to kneel down.

"What?" Leaning down a bit, she whispers.

"I stealthily cast a buff to your gun, 'Holy Enchant' to give it a holy attribute, it's great, right?"

Huh?

Are you serious?

Staring at the sub-machine gun in my hand, I finally noticed that it was covered by a thin bluish membrane that faintly glows.

Then, a shit-eating grin found its way into my face as I took a stielhandgranate from my belt and told Aqua.

"Hey Aqua, wanna see a holy hand grenade?"

"I know what you mean."

Casting the same buff to my stick grenade, I pulled the pin and shout to the recovering Dullahan.

"Hey, Dullahan-san, I have a gift for you!"

Then, I threw it to the Dullahan before running back few meters away.

"Huh? What is th-"

 _BOOM!_

"Hot! HotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHotHot! HOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT!" Rolling down on the ground again, we can see its rotten flesh from some gaps made from its shattered armor courtesy of my grenade.

"Buehehe- Gahahahahahahahahahaha! Look at that thing everyone! The so called proud and powerful demon army's boss reduced to that state with a mere small explosion! Can't you believe it!? Puhehehehehe! I can't stop laughing!" Laughing heartily beside me is Aqua.

On the other side beside me, Megumin, the one causing this, struck another pose with spreading both legs as wide as her shoulders, her left hand hugging her right side, and her right hand right in front of her face. Then, she declares. "I have predicted this outcome the moment you came, kukuku... How foolish of you."

Seeing both of their shenanigans, the expression of adventurers behind us changed from scared to joining Aqua in laughing and humiliating the Dullahan.

"Ah! Hot! Stop it! Hot! I'll let you off the hot, I mean hook for now! HotHotHot! Don't cast explosion in my castle anymore! Hot!"

 _PUFF_

With those pathetic last words, he disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Ah, how unfortunate.

I would like to throw another holy hand grenade to finish him off and claim the huge sum of money like Aqua said, but oh well.

 _To Be Continued..._

* * *

-o-

* * *

A/N:

Alright, the sixth chapter is done, but first of all, Ein frohes neues jahr!/Happy New Year! Returning back to the chapter, it's the usual crazy antics caused by Kazuma's party and even Kazuma himself. For the title, The Grenadier is a soldier equipped with grenades or grenade launcher(duh). Well, the chapter is rather shorter than previous ones, but the next one will be slightly longer than usual and will probably take the usual updating routine(weekly or biweekly). For terms and reference:

\- Granatenwerfer: Developed from a weapon originally designed by a priest, of all people, in the Austro-Hungarian army, the Granatenwerfer 16 was a German WWI grenade thrower which bridged the gap between hand-thrown grenades and the light minenwerfers. Throwing a small grenade with a 400g(14oz) high explosive charge to a maximum range of about 300 meters(330 yards), the Gr.W.16 with a practiced crew could maintain a rate of fire of 4-5 rounds per minute. The Granatenwerfer 16 was a classic example of the spigot mortar type weapon. Rather than having a hollow barrel into which the projectile fit, it had a simple rod with a firing pin built in. The grenade it fired had a hollow center shaft, which fit onto the firing rod. To fire, a gunner(a 2-man crew, in practice) would first adjust the spigot rod to the correct angle for the desired range, depress the cocking collar until the firing pin was cocked, rotate the safety lever to the "safe" position, insert a fuse into a grenade(they were fairly sensitive impact fuses), slide the grenade onto the launcher, remove the safety pin, and fire the grenade by means of a lanyard pull. The Gr.W.16 was particularly portable because of its light weight – the launcher itself weighted 31 pounds and the base plate an additional 48 pounds. Thus both parts could be easily carried across areas too confined, muddy, or otherwise impractical to drag a wheeled minenwerfer through. The grenade itself contained a special blank rifle cartridge(actually just a standard service round with the projectile removed), which provided the energy to launch – the granatenwerfer itself simply struck the cartridge primer to fire it. The Gr.W.16s proved to be popular and very effective weapons for the Germans. They had a high rate of fire, useful range, and reasonable effective detonation. They could be used in either direct or indirect fire applications – direct fire was used to fire at things like sentry posts, gun loopholes, and the like. When fired this way, the grenade fragments would fill an area roughly 5m wide and 50m long, while a round fired in a high angle trajectory would have a bursting radius of about 30 meters. Minimum high-angle range was 50 meters, to avoid endangering the firing crew. Granatenwerfer 16 case with tools and spare parts. In terms of manufacturing, the Gr.W.16 was a very simple device, and easy to produce, with only a few moving parts and noting requiring the level of precision that a conventional barrel would need. This made it idea for production by companies like toy manufacturers, who had experience with casting relatively small parts to relatively loose tolerances.

\- Explosion Kameraden: Explosion Comrades.

\- Bergmann MP18: The Bergmann MP18 was designed by Hugo Schmeisser in 1915 at the Bergmann Waffenfabrik factory. It was designed to fulfill the requirements established by the German Rifle Testing Commission. When the weapon was completed it was designated the Maschinenpistole 18/I or MP18/I. The weapons finished and the parts all fitted by hand at near commercial grade quality. The MP18/I went into production in early 1918 using the 32nd 'snail' drum magazine used in the P08 Luger Artillery. Issued in the final stages of World War I at least 5,000 MP18/I were built and issued before the war ended. The weapon was outlawed for German Military use by the Treaty of Versailles but a small quantity was issued the Weimar Republic for police use. The Weimar Republic weapons are converted to use MP28 stick mags as the 32nd drum was also banned by the Treaty of Versailles. The design was improved upon and manufactured in Belgium for export as the Schmeisser MP28/II.

Type: Sub-machine gun

Caliber: 9x19mm Parabellum

Capacity: 32 cartridges (drum)(Kazuma's), 20 cartridges (box)

Fire Modes: Fully Automatic (450 RPM)

\- 馬鹿: Baka, in English, Idiot.

\- Taking some of them out is fine, but you don't mind if I take all of them out, do you?: It's a reference to Fate/Stay-Night from Fate Route. The real quote is 'It's fine if I buy you some time, but you don't mind if I kill him, do you?' said by Fifth Grail War's Archer before fighting a losing yet epic battle against Berserker. Also the tanned skin and white slicked back hair is his physical appearance and his robe usually billows when something epic is going to happen soon(Before facing berserker, Parting away in UBW after having the last laugh against Archer of the fourth grail war, and Inspiring HF Shirou to fight berserker and win).

\- 'I am the Arch-Wizard of Explosion, etc' is another Fate/Stay-Night reference of Archer's Noble Phantasm(Ultimate Attack) where he chants a long aria to cast it. The aria is rather infamous to be parodied in many series, be it from original show or fanfiction. The real aria is:

I am the bone of my sword  
Steel is my body, and Fire is my blood  
I have created over a thousand blades  
Unknown to death, nor known to life  
Have withstood pain to create many weapons  
Yet, these hands will never hold anything  
So, as I pray, Unlimited Blade Work

\- The Time Stopping: It's a reference to most sport series or shonen series wherein a tense battle, when the MC uses his (currently)strongest attack or technique, out of nowhere the time stops or slows down while the MC narrates about how he could use the technique/attack or flashback about training to achieve it. The example I put is Captain Tsubasa(A classic sports anime/manga about soccer) and JoJo. Though, JoJo was averted because most of the time the MC narrates about it, the time literally stops(I'm looking at you, The World and Star Platinum).

\- Holy Hand Grenade: It's a very subtle reference to Monty Python and The Holy Grail movie.

Review Response:

\- XxPokemonMasterxX: Canonically, it is a species of a monster named for what they usually did, killing rookie adventurers. Also, Ein frohes neues jahr!

\- Judgment of the Arbiter: Danke und Ein frohes neues jahr, mein freund!

\- RedSS: Now you saw it :D also, Ein frohes neues jahr!

That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and faves my story, I'll try my best to write this story to yours and my satisfaction.

P.S. Again to the Germanic reader out there, please correct my words or terms about German if I'm wrong since I'm still learning about your language. Tschüss und Ein frohes neues jahr!


	8. Das War Einfach

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Das War Einfach**

Standing in front of the quest board is me and my party.

It's been a week since the poor sod of a Dullahan gracing us with its presence while throwing a temper tantrum.

Nothing much really happened in these past weeks.

It's either me and Megumin not heeding the Dullahan's warning and keep blowing shit up around the castle or taking easy quests with good pay like Aqua insisted.

Today is another day with no luck in getting any decent quest.

Well, considering that Dullahan still holed up inside its castle, we're rather lucky to sometimes be able to take a decent quest that popped up before other parties could take it.

And that's why today, my schedule is...

Waving towards me and Megumin who is walking away from the town is Aqua, probably because she doesn't have anything to do today due to not being broke(for now). When we're far enough to see, she suddenly yells out. "Hey Megumin, Kazuma! Try your best to destroy that castle! If you can, along with that stupid Dullahan itself so that we can claim a huge sum of money reward!"

I facepalmed.

"Hmm? Why are you facepalming yourself, Kazuma?" Beside me is Megumin, who asked that question while tilting her head to the side.

"Nothing important, just a natural reflex of my body for something stupid that occurred."

"I see... Anyway, let's go!" She said cheerfully before increasing the pace of her walk.

Pretty sure that we've arrived faster than usual, but-

"What the hell?" I uttered both of our thought seeing this in front of us.

What should be a path to the small hill in front of us, the usual place where our training as Explosion Kameraden occurs, is now replaced by three meters tall wooden barricade decorated with spikes on top of it. Not only that, there's a huge piece of paper right in the middle of the barricade saying "GO HOME!".

I facepalmed. Again.

I can hazard a very, very accurate guess of who is responsible for doing something like this from the event that transpired one week ago. But what made me do a facepalm is actually something different from what others might think.

Before I could yell about the stupidity of this, I spotted Megumin in a stance of pointing her staff at the barricade and huffed. "As if a mere wooden wall like this could stop me." With that, she began to gather mana into her staff to cast her usual spell. Seriously now?

"Stop it."

Puzzled by my command, she arched her eyebrows quizzically and asks. "Huh? Why? Are you saying we should obey it?"

"Nope, it's because why should you waste your precious mana to blow this stupid thing?"

"I get it that this wall isn't worthy to be destroyed by my great spell, but that's the only way to pass, right?"

"Nope, can't you really see that the best solution is right in front of you?" I deadpanned.

Looking at her front as if searching for something from what I said, she finally gave up and decides to directly ask me. "What? You? While I'm sure you can destroy thi-" Alright, why can't she get it?

Holding her shoulders, I turned her body 180 degrees to face the wooden barricade again. "What are you doing Kazuma!?" She complained as she thought that my action is strange and unreasonable. To stop her doing it, I silently point my index finger at a certain location nearby the barrier which Megumin's eyes follow and with that, stopped complaining. "Hehehe, I see, as expected of Kazuma to be that devious." She lets out a creepy laugh.

 _THWACK_

"Ouch..." Rubbing her head in pain, she lets out a groan of pain after I smacked her head.

"There's nothing devious about it, it's just that whoever built this is a moron of the highest degree. Now let's go."

Yeah, the thing is, while that wooden wall is indeed blocking our path to the usual training ground of ours, it only blocks the path, not including grass patches on its side, just the damn path.

So, with a simple solution of circling around the barricade through the grass patch, we passed without much problem.

'Dullahan-san, I wonder who is your boss to choose you as a general for his army?' I mused.

With that, we do our usual routine as Explosion Kameraden: training our ability to blow shit up.

"'Explosion!'"

 _BOOM!_

"Nice explosion as usual!" I paused a bit. "I wonder if that guy is pissed?"

"Hmph, instead of pissed, you should ask if that guy is dead or not. None can stand against the might of my explosion!" As usual, she brags about her greatness.

I could only smile wryly at that.

"Anyway, Megumin, you did offer me to learn explosion before, right?"

Hearing that, her expression turned into an excited one and proceeds to raise her upper body in order to see me. Uwah, that sure surprised me, but then she said in an excited tone. "Have you finally saw the truth and greatness of following the explosion path?"

I do understand her enthusiasm, but I don't even have enough skill point to learn it.

"No, not that. What I want to talk is that I want to offer you something in exchange for giving me a chance to learn your spell."

Yeah, the law of equivalent exchange.

Although it's more like she wouldn't withdraw from our party, so the secret of firearms wouldn't be spilled. Worst case scenario, I could just 'will' her pistol to disappear if something bad happened.

The last thing I want is to cause firearms to be mass-produced in this world and become a reason for the great war just like back in my world.

"Offer me something?" She asked in a puzzled tone.

"Yeah, since you're always out of juice after using one spell and left defenseless for a good amount of time, how about I teach you to use a pistol? I offered Aqua, but she refused saying it wasn't worthy for her to hold the weapon while Darkness..." I paused a little as an image of Darkness shooting a stationary target at point blank range using a pistol, only to miss every shot immediately popped up in my mind. Why am I not surprised? "Let's just say it wouldn't end well if she did use the weapon." I continued.

Hearing my offer, she put her hand on her chin and closed her eyes as if in deep thought. Although it didn't last long as she opens her eyes a few seconds later and gave me a puzzled look.

"Hmm... Do I have to learn a skill for using it?"

Ah, so that's why the puzzled look.

She did say that she'll focus all her skill points to explosion related skill. So it's a no-no if she has to learn 'Infanterie' which took 2 skill points.

Wait a second...

About that skill-

"This is my deduction, but I don't really think so. While there IS a skill related to improve how you use a pistol, I wasn't forced to learn it and I can still use my pistol normally. Though it really improves me after learning the skill. Aside from that, nothing different."

"Ooh, I see... But like you, I'll have to put this on hold for now. Sorry Kazuma, but I think I'll try to learn it later."

"I see, well no need to rush. It's not like we have a dire situation going on anyway." I shrugged my shoulders before helping her up.

Setting herself in a comfortable position on my back, she mutters. "Yeah, you're right."

With that, we're going back to town and pass the stupid barricade again.

The next day is similar, but...

"GO HOME! I HAVE INCREASED THE HEIGHT OF THIS BARRICADE TWICE ITS ORIGINAL HEIGHTS! YOU SHALL NOT CLIMB ANYMORE!"

I facepalmed.

This Dullahan.

Tugging my sleeve, she brought me out of my stupor and points at the barricade. "Hey Kazuma, why do I sense idiocy leaking out of this barricade."

With a deadpan expression, I face her. "It's not leaking out, Megumin. It practically BLEEDS OUT stupidity."

Circling the barrier again, we do our usual training. But unlike our previous training-

"'Explosion'!"

"Fire in the hole!"

 _BOOOOOMMMMMM!_ x2

-we did it simultaneously.

"Oooh, that is one great explosion! With my mortar detonated right above the castle because of your explosion, the small explosion from it forming a flower look-alike shape which compliments yours, creating some sort of magnificent abstract painting out of the museum!"

Smiling for my remark, she gives double thumbs up for it. "As expected for my explosion kameraden, for realizing that Explosion is an art."

Was that a reference to N*ruto?

Anyway, dragging her back to the tarp, we ate a Baumkuchen along with a mug of coffee that I brought as an afternoon snack.

Talking about trivial things related to adventuring and improving explosion, we spent our time leisurely before going back.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention.

Few minutes before going back, I launched several mortars at the castle as something to let out my pent up stress from absurdity.

Pretty sure I could feel someone was pissed off by what I did.

* * *

-o-

* * *

Today, the same shit different day routine of us didn't change.

Despite finally finding another decent quest on the quest board, a simple goblin subjugation, for some reason, our good ol' hetaregami refused it.

"If the quest yields only this much, I'd rather not do it. Because I've been offered a better job yesterday!"

So she said.

While Darkness is nowhere to be seen.

Probably doing some quest with Chris since we barely do any quest recently.

With that, I and Megumin do our usual routine again.

Training/Releasing pent up stress.

"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW COULD YOU CLIMB THIS TALL BARRIER!? BUT THAT ENDS NOW! YOU CANNOT CLIMB THIS ANYMORE BECAUSE I ADDED A POISONOUS WIRES ON TOP OF IT, HOW IS IT!? YOU CAN NEVER CAST EXPLOSION TO MY CASTLE AGAIN!"

We, I repeat, we as in both me and Megumin facepalmed for this stupidity.

Rubbing my temple to ease my headache, I raise my finger up and down with my mouth doing the same to say something, but nothing came out. "You know what? I'm out of fucks to give this idiot, so let's go before he could kill me with this idiocy."

"Yeah, what a fearsome Demon King Army's Boss. For being able to severely injure our mind with his indirect action... He truly is a boss opponent." She remarks.

'You are missing the point, Megumin.' I internally retort.

Nothing much happened afterward except that I lobbed ten more mortar shots than usual to finally settle down my stressed mind.

Looking at me in disbelief, she asks. "Satisfied?"

"Fu~" Taking a deep breath after willing the mortar to disappear, I look back at her and- "Yes, I'm satisfied."

And yes, the reason for her disbelief expression came from the fact that each time I lobbed a mortar, I shout out profanities that would make Rockstar game's protagonists blush.

Returning back to town, I found something I'd rather not found at all.

Right in front of me, nearby the town's gate, a shop is in ruin with Aqua standing in front of said shop with a difficult expression with a large scary looking man standing behind her and there's this good looking guy wearing heavy armor with cape and a sword sheathed behind him along with two pretty looking girl standing on each side.

My Riaju sense is tingling.

I really, really want to yell out 'Riaju just die' but from my experience, this guy must be the good one since whenever there's a problem relating to my party member, the bad one is always from my party.

Just what did she do this time?

Looking back at Megumin behind me, I whisper. "Hey, let's ignore her, okay?"

In response, she took a slight glance at Aqua before going back to me and. "Yes, let us." Nodding to herself, her grip to my back tightens a little bit before saying. "It's not like I leave her or anything, that's because I'm sure she's going to solve her problem by herself."

"Yes, yes, let u-"

"Ah! Kazuma, help me!"

As if mocking me again, fate decides to become a bitch as it made Aqua noticed us.

What the hell, fate!?

Sighing at an incoming headache I'll find myself in, I walk, no, drag myself toward her.

With annoyed expression, I stare at her. "What did you do this time, hetaregami?" I asked with twitching eyebrows.

"What!? It isn't my fault this time!" She retorts while pointing at the good looking guy.

Great, blaming other people for her mistake. How Aqua-like.

"Yeah, right. If you aren't in the wrong, Ash must be a champion of a pokemon league."

"How dare you to say that to this great goddess Aqua-sama!"

Surprisingly, the one saying that isn't Aqua, but the good looking guy.

What is this?

Someone who knew Aqua's identity?

"And who exactly are you?" I asked with arched eyebrows.

Taking one step forward, he rests his right palm at the hilt of his sword and with wind causing his cape to billow, "My name is Mitsurugi Kyouya! The hero reincarnated to this world by this goddess Aqua-sama to exterminate the demon lord!" Then, he points his index finger at me. "Now that you know my name, it is only right for you to introduce yourself as well."

Another reincarnated person? I wonder how many reincarnated people living in this world?

"Kyouya, why should you introduce yourself first?"

"That's right, it is only right for this guy to introduce himself first instead of you!"

So said from two girls beside him.

"I am Satou Kazuma, that's all," I said in annoyed tone before facing Aqua. "Did you know him, Aqua?"

"Not in the slightest."

From her expression, tone, and quickness of answering my question, I can deduce that she is saying the truth.

"Wha-?" He stuttered before composing himself. "Excuse me, but I am the one whom you gave this magic sword Gram and entrust me in the quest to defeat the demon lord, Aqua-sama."

"Eh, um..." She paused for a bit. "Oh! So you're that guy, huh?" She said in a totally not convincing tone while scratching the back of her head. "Then, why did you trash this place!?"

Huh?

"But, you were being-"

"Wait, wait, just what the heck is going on here?"

My question was answered by the large man behind Aqua.

After explaining in detail of what happened with few times shutting the fuck out of Kyouya to let the man talk, I could sum up what really happened.

\- Aqua took a job as a temporary caretaker of this pet shop which paid her around 250,000 Eris for three days job due to the owner, the large man-san, is going on a business to the next town.

Probably why she wouldn't come with us to do the goblin subjugation quest.

\- For two days, there's nothing much going on.

\- The third and last day, when she was cleaning one of the cages, she, being Aqua, accidentally locked herself up inside and yelling out for help.

\- Then, there's this good looking man passing by and somehow heard her plea.

\- Finding out that she is the goddess Aqua, the one who reincarnate him to this world, he thought that this pet shop is a slave trading house under the guise of a pet shop.

\- Angry at this, he wrecks everything here despite Aqua's plea to stop.

\- By the time owner-san returned, he was shocked, to say the least when seeing his store in ruin like this.

And we're back at the current situation.

My only response to this situation is to facepalm in disbelief.

"Mein Gott, this is one of the stupidest shit I've ever see-"

"Kazuma, remember the Dullahan barrier," Megumin interjects from behind.

"Alright, the second stupidest shit I've ever seen, but I digress. It's just a hyperbole, Megumin, hyperbole." Then, I look back at the guy. "So, now that we know the true story, care to pay for the damage you've caused, Hero-san?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.

"What!? Just look at him, he looks like someone who works in that kind of job! And Aqua-sama might be brainwashed for her to almost forgot me!"

I think this guy is entering the five stages of grief, part one, denial.

And he's the kind of person who judges the book by its cover.

AND he's a damn Riaju if those two clingy partner of his is any indication.

"I don't think it's really wise to judge people by their appearance remembering that everything in this world is more than meet the eyes."

"But still-" He tried to retort.

 _Tried._

"I already told you many times that I wasn't sold as a slave, but why don't you listen!?" Aqua beats me to it.

"Ah, how cruel, for you to be enslaved in a brainwashing magic! But don't worry, I shall free you from the shackle of accursed mind magic right n-" Then, he grabbed Aqua's hand forcefully.

Peering into her eyes, he tries to see if there are really any brainwashing magic cast upon her, but it only serves to creep Aqua out.

Before I could stop his creepy behavior-

"Hold it right there, what are you trying to do with my party member?" A voice suddenly interrupts.

Looking at the source, it's Darkness and Chris, probably returning from whatever they're doing before. Ah, Chris waves her hand this way, how carefree...

"You are?"

"I am Darkness, a member of Kazuma's party and that Arch-priest is also in the same party. What exactly are you trying to do with her?" She asked in a stern voice.

Hearing that, he turns around to look at me. "Your party huh? Hmm, wait a minute, Satou Kazuma... That sounds like a Japanese name and what you wear right now..." Letting Aqua go, he inspects my outfit as if I'm some sort of exotic animal. Then, he nodded to himself. "I see now. It's clear to me."

What clear?

I feel like something stupid is going to happen because the tingling of my Riaju sense is being overridden by another tingling in my idiot sense.

With wide eyes, he points his index finger at me. "Just like me, you came from Japan and your 'gift' must be a magic that brainwashes her! Also, that attire proves that you must be a nazi sympathizer and thus act like them! Truly a disgraceful kind of human!"

Never in my life, I'd want my instinct to be wrong.

I'd really like to do a double facepalm, but settled to groan instead cause I'm too tired with his weird logic.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, First, this uniform is a WWI uniform of German's soldier, not the Nazi ones. Second, don't call me a nazi sympathizer, while their weaponry and uniform are cool, being called one is another thing. Lastly, I didn't brainwash anyone, even if I could brainwash this hetaregami, I'd brainwash her to be smarter."

"Hey!" Aqua yelled out.

"Be it WWI or WWII or Cold War or Modern times, all Germans are Nazis and you can't hide the truth from me."

"Wow, just how fucked up the content of your mind? If Germanic people heard that, I won't stop them from killing you if they want to." I sarcastically remarked.

"Anyway, since you and this man must be colluding together for brainwashing your party member to follow you, I shall have them free from your mind binding and join me in the effort of defeating the demon lord!"

He didn't even listen to me, did he?

Alright, a simple knock to his head with my rifle's butt should be-

 _SLAP_

Huh?

Something amazing just happened.

Darkness bitch-slapped his face.

"Just how far do you want to disgrace my party member? First, your action creeps my party member. Second, you accuse another without trying to listen to his reasoning. And third, you intended to harm my comrade. Do you really think a crusader such as myself will let you do something like that?"

"Kyouya!" x2

Both of his followers shouted out.

"Hey, what about my ruined shop?" The man behind me muttered.

Poor guy, he was completely ignored.

"Guh, for your brainwash to be this strong to corrupt a gallant and valorous woman such as her as well-"

Tuning out of his nonsense rambling, I turn my face to Megumin on my back. "Hey, do you think you can get down? I think I have to do something before this stupid guy does something weird."

"Ah, I already recovered enough to stand since we returned to town, so sure, go ahead."

This girl too...

"Hey, you fourth grail war caster Gilles de Rais wannabe!"

"What!?"

That got his attention.

"You keep blabbering about I brainwash this and that, but do you even have any concrete proof?"

"I need no prove, you fiend. I shall have you free all these fine maidens from the spell you bound them."

"As expected for Kyouya! I knew you were the one destined to be mine!"

"No, he's mine!"

There's those two arguing as well.

"What? Are you challenging me to a fight?" I get to the point.

If my word can't get to him, maybe my bullets can.

"Yeah! If you lose, you shall free them of your brainwash or I have to eliminate you and never to return to this town!"

"Hey, what if I win?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"Hmm? That will be impossible, but if you somehow do in one in a million chance, what is your demand?"

"It's really simple actually, just pay the damage of this poor guy's pet shop and don't show your annoying face around my party again."

"Hmph, fine."

With that, we walked away from each other and face each other in the middle of the empty street with ten meters of road separating us.

"Alright, Satou Kazuma, I shall challenge you to a duel!"

 _BANG!_

Before he could charges forward, the sword he drew flew from his hand after announcing the challenge and fell to the ground with a thud.

 _BANG! BANG!_

"GAH!" He shouted in pain as he's trying to stand his ground by kneeling.

"Kyouya!" x2

And now there are two holes appeared on both of his knees.

Without wasting any time, I launch my body forward and deliver a roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him out.

"Next time, don't bring a sword to a gunfight." I dramatically declared, only to sweatdrop afterward as I realized that he couldn't hear me, courtesy of being unconscious. Turning back, I look at Aqua. "Hey Aqua, can you heal his wound? Only the one caused by my firearms since I don't wanna wake him up early after all."

"Are you really sure?" She asked with a puzzled expression.

"Yeah."

Actually, I have another goal.

For Science!

As she cast her healing magic at his wounded knees, I saw two rounds that were lodged inside slowly floats out of the hole before the wound closing slowly. By the time the healing finished, a sound of two rounds that fell on the ground with a 'ping' snapped me back to reality.

Yes, my goal is to see how Aqua's healing magic affect the gunshot wound.

One of the biggest questions about healing magic effect to gunshot wound is that will the round came out of the wound before sealing up? Or will it stay inside the victim's body? Or will it disappear?

Right in front of me, my first theory proved to be the one.

"You coward! How could you attack Kyouya like that!" The green haired one shouted out.

"I wished you die getting kicked by a horse!" The red haired one cursed.

Ignoring them, I took his sword.

Imagine the potential.

Me holding this sword in one hand with a pistol or sawed off shotgun in the other while wearing a red trench coat and bleached my hair white.

"What are you doing Kazuma?" Aqua asked in a puzzled tone.

"What else do you think? To the victor goes the spoil, right?" I stated in a matter of fact tone.

"Scum! Don't you dare to take Kyouya's sword! Only he who could use that sword!" The green haired one yelled yet again.

"What?"

"That's right, as much as your chuuni imagination wants to run, you simply can't. Only he himself could use it."

Sighing at the revelation, I put my Luger back into its holster. "How unfortunate, but I'll take it anyway."

"What!? Thief! Brute! Give it back!"

Ignoring them, I urge my party to get back at the adventurer guild.

On our way back-

"Hey Darkness, why did you stand up against that prick? I thought you'd like someone like him."

Hearing that, her face turned red, not her usual blush, but anger. "What are you saying? That guy is a no go." She paused before turning red again, now it's her regular blush. Ah, that can't be good. "That's right, if it's a Sadist or Savage, I'd like it, but the same could not be said with a psycho."

I knew it.

* * *

-o-

* * *

The next day.

It was both funny and scary to describe what's going on before me.

Despite yesterday's stupid shenanigans about barrier and Gilles de Rais v2.0, I couldn't help to find the spectacle before me, unnerving, to say the least.

Because the stupid barrier that was erected here is nowhere to be seen and no notes either.

Just what is going on here?

Asking Megumin's opinion on this-

"Well, this probably means that pathetic Dullahan finally gave up and allow us to do as we please."

Not really helping.

"Megumin, I think you should cast it quickly and get back to town, my instinct told me something not great is going to happen if we stay any longer." I cautioned her.

She just nodded at that.

It seems like she understood the severity of this situation. Or probably not having many people backing her from behind... Whichever is it.

After a quick 'boom' on the castle, we went back early.

By the time we're back in town, it's in the middle of the afternoon.

Deciding to spend our time in the adventurer guild until Megumin recovered enough to walk by herself, we do just that.

Opening the door to the guild, we were greeted by the usual sight of Aqua doing what she does best besides her healing spell.

Partying.

Holding a mug in her left hand while performing party tricks, she attracts a lot of attention from adventurers inside. And from her blushed face, I'm pretty sure she's drunk as well.

If anyone asking me to describe this hetaregami in three keywords, it'd be Party, Idiot, Craziness.

Wasting any money she had to throw a party and put everyone's tab on her, she lives her life lavishly as if there's nothing to worry about tomorrow.

When I asked her about wasting money, she casually replied: "Huh? Are you dumb? Money exist to be spent! It is only right for us to spend them as it's their purpose, right?"

While I can't exactly refute that statement, I can't agree with that either.

Because when she ran out of money, she either tries to goad me into lending her some money or forcing me to grab a dangerous quest with a huge sum of money.

Why can't this hetaregami live a little bit frugal?

Ah crap, she's looking at us.

"Kazuma-shan!" She stutters while calling us out.

She's drunk alright.

Ignoring her antics, I proceed to walk pass by her to put Megumin down on a chair before sitting myself down right next to her.

Ordering a simple sandwich and a cold neroid swish as our lunch, we decided to rest ourselves until Megumin recovered enough to at least walk on her own.

While enjoying our lunch, we watch Aqua's party trick into play.

It's amusing, to say the least.

Just like a clown.

I wonder if this is the reason why she could earn her money through working as a saleswoman promoting what she sold by her party tricks.

Musing about that, I didn't realize someone slams open the door and walk toward me until Megumin shook my shoulder.

Ah shit, it's the fucking Riaju again.

"Didn't our deal involve you to not meet any member of my party? And that includes me, by the way. What the heck do you want?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

Luckily I have already finished my sandwich else it'd leave a bad taste in my mouth when seeing him again.

Kneeling down on the floor at my remark, he looks up to me. "Forgive my rude and bigoted act yesterday, my eyes were clouded in rage to the point I can't even see things objectively." He paused while looking down. Clouded by rage? Are you serious? Then, he looks up again. "I know what I did right now is a shameful act as a knight for going back to his promise, but-" Throwing down his body, he performs a dogeza in front of me. Why do I feel that I got everyone's attention by his action? "Please return my sword! I'd do anything for you to regain back the treasure that Aqua-sama entrusted to me." He begs. And from his tone and all, it seems that he is really serious and sincere in apologizing to me. Probably because he thought I possess his sword.

And that's the problem.

"Sorry, even if I do have your sword, I'd rather not ask you to do something for me."

Hearing my dry remark, his expression turned from distressed into despair. "Please! Name what your wish! A high-grade equipment? A large sum of cash? A life debt?"

"It's not like that, but you see, I don't have your sword." That despaired expression turned into dumbfound as he could only utter a 'Huh?' dumbly as a response.

"Yeah well, since I couldn't use it anyway, I decided to sell it to the blacksmith in this town."

"NO! ! !"

Without any fanfare, he dashed out of the guild in panic.

"What do you know? Turns out he isn't as an asshole as I thought he'd be." I muttered in amazement.

Really now, I thought he'd be crazy and strangle me to death for what I did to his sword. I'd do that if I were him, though.

"Kazuma, you're the one that looks like an A-hole right now if no one knows any better." Megumin sweatdropped.

"Megumin, you do know what he did yesterday, right?"

"Please, I already said that if no one knows any better." She retorts.

By the way, Katsurugi? the guy somehow didn't notice Aqua and the same can be said to her. Probably because one is in panic and the other is too drunk to notice anyway. It's for the best these two doesn't meet, cause the last thing I want is the repeat of yesterday even if it'll be more subdued now that he's calm and not deluded.

Not long afterward, we decided to leave the guild for a walk in a town when Megumin finally regained her energy enough to walk normally.

Visiting various places, we waste our time doing just that until evening.

After having the usual dinner, we went separate ways(except for me and Aqua for obvious reason).

As per usual, after-party Aqua slept earlier than usual while I 'train' my craft.

The current status of my party is:

Aqua: Arch-priest, level 14

Darkness: Crusader, level 17

Me: Militärbeauftragter, level 20

Megumin: Arch-wizard, level 20

It's rather weird that I'm just a level 20 adventurer when I was able to slain more than a hundred of those Demonic Treants, but apparently, those creatures only yield more experience points when they were purified by holy magic instead of physical attack, which is why Aqua's 10 level leaps isn't really surprising while back then, I only gain three level rise.

For my stats, it seems like some of my stats' growth is slowing down.

Since level 15, my magic stat only grew a little from C+ to B- while my physical stat, while not as fast as magical ones, it's relatively steadier across the board(STR(C-), AGI(C+), SPD(C+), VIT(D+)).

Meanwhile, I've gained several new skill during the last two weeks of nothing much happening.

\- CQC: Close Quarter Combat, a passive skill that allows- The rest is self-explanatory and I used this against that Mitsuragi? guy before. Cost: 3 Skill Points.

\- Efficiency II: Any object that was created will cost 25% less mana for the next time it'll be made with added 2,5% reduction per object, maximum reduction limit: 50%. Cost: 8 Skill Points.

\- Grenadier: Passive skill that will improve user's skill with explosives. Cost: 3 Skill Points.

While Explosion skill came up on the learn-able skill list, I simply don't have enough skill points to learn it nor great mana capacity to effectively utilize the powerful spell.

Tonight, I'm going to create a weapon more overkill than a rifle loaded with the K-Bullet!

"'Creation!'"

* * *

-o-

* * *

"Party~ Party~ I love to party~"

Humming beside me is Aqua.

It's pretty early in the morning and from the sun's position, I think it's probably around six.

Today, we woke up a tad bit earlier. I don't know her motivation, but I woke up due to this tingling feeling of wanting to shoot something with my new weapon.

Speaking of a new weapon, strapped on my back with a sling isn't my usual MP18 or Gewehr 98, but a rifle that is slightly longer than my own height.

Entering the guild, other adventurers only sparing a single glance to me and my new weapon. Probably because they're too used to seeing me carrying a weird weapon(in their eyes).

Spotting Megumin who is munching her breakfast that consist of a steak, salad, and a glass of some sort of juice, I and Aqua sat down next to her.

While still munching her meal, she turns her head to me. "Oh, itsh ish kashuma an Akua, you're rasher let?"

"Swallow your meal first, I couldn't understand the latter part of your sentence," I said while grabbing a menu to choose my breakfast.

Hearing that, the next thing I heard is an audible 'gulp' from beside me, signaling that she finally did just that. "You're later than usual Kazuma, what's up?"

"It's not like I'm late, you're just too early. There's barely ten adventurers here." I said while looking through the menu, trying to choose the best meal for my breakfast.

Taking a glance to her back, she confirms my statement with her own eyes.

"Waitress! Fried toad legs as usual!" Aqua cheerfully ordered.

"Yes!" The waitress responded.

Arching her eyebrows for a few seconds, she turned back and cut into her steak again. "I see... Then, what are we going to do today?" She said before taking putting a bite-sized cut up of a steak into her mouth. Hmm, that looks tasty.

"It's the usual, right? If there's decent quest, we take it, if not, we'll train." Then, I put down the menu in my hand before raising up my index finger. "Waitress, one steak, and salad please!"

"Yes!" The waitress responded.

After that, nothing much happened except Darkness joining in and eating our breakfast together.

When it's done, we decided to look for a quest.

"Well, today I'm going to hold a party, so I won't be joining you."

Now I knew her motivation for waking up early.

Fine, we still have Darkness.

Just as we finally stood in front of the quest board with many selections of quests, an alarm rang.

"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town's main gate ready for battle–!"

What is it now?

"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare all your equipment and gather at the town's main gate ready for battle–! Especially Satou Kazuma-san and his companions, please head to the scene as soon as possible!"

"Aqua, did you do something this time?" I asked with twitching eyebrows.

"Why do you blame me for almost every problem happening?"

"Technically, all problems we've encountered were caused either directly or indirectly by you."

"Muu..."

"Anyway, let's quickly handle this problem."

Rushing toward the front gate, I saw every citizen of Axel running around in panic toward their home before closing everything and adventurers are running toward the announced position with a grim or despair expression painted upon their face.

"Is this going to be the day I die?"

"I don't wanna die yet!"

"Even if I'm going to die, I'll die protecting the citizen of this town!"

Those kinds of morbid talk among adventurers happened.

What's going on here?

Soon enough, our question was answered.

Hook, line, and sinker.

Riding a headless horse is the Dullahan from before, but what made those adventurers scared to death is the fact that the green plain behind him is now a sea of black. And no, it's not his dark aura, but a crazy amount of undead warrior of all kinds blot out the scenery of the plains before us.

Alright, time to commence plan 'Let's Kill The Dullahan'.

Taking a step forward, the Dullahan raise its sword up high, followed by his undead army. "My name is Verdia, one of the demon king army's boss! I came here with my army of death to punish two impudent adventurers from before for what they did. And if any of you try to hide them or they try to escape, I shall unleash my undead army to this town to make an example to not anger someone far more powerful than yourself!" It declared while releasing an oppressive aura as if to prove his point. "But! Because I still retain a small bit of my honor as a knight back when I was still a human, if you come out right now, I shall mercifully grant you a painless death and spare these innocent citizens from death!" He added.

That declaration sure made everyone riled up as they're trying to look for 'two impudent adventurers'.

Though, they could only find one.

And even then, they didn't exactly find her as she gallantly walks toward the Dullahan and struck a pose in front of it with her left knee slightly raised, her left hand barely covering her face but her eyes and her right index finger pointed at the Dullahan. "My name is Megumin, an Arch-wizard from Crimson Magic Clan! And Verdia the Dullahan, you have fallen into our trap!" She declared.

While she's doing that, I already positioned myself above the town's gate with my stealth skill active and set down the bipod of my Tankgewehr M1918 before aiming at the Dullahan's weak point.

"Hoo? Do you think I'll fall for that again when right now I don't see any of your companion around? Don't be a f-"

Bye-bye.

 _DOBAHN!_

 _KA-CHINK!_

Right before the Dullahan could finish its sentence, a loud noise resounded through the plains.

Followed by its body falling down from its steed- If you look closer, it's actually just its armor without anything inside laying on the ground.

Is that it?

Apparently, it wasn't only me who shared this sentiment.

From the fearful whispering of adventurers to some sort of excitement from the undead knight to turn into a silence, it really says something about the situation.

Even Megumin could only stare blankly while blinking few times at the pieces of armor in front of her while still in her pose.

Ten seconds.

Thirty seconds.

One minute.

No sign of the Dullahan being alive(as much as being an undead is considered alive anyway).

"""EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?"""

That day, be it young, old, boy, girl, man, woman, living, undead, warrior, etc united in screaming at the absurdity they've faced, namely-

Demon King Army's Boss was killed in such anticlimactic way.

 _To Be Continued..._

A/N:

Phew, the seventh chapter is done. As per usual tradition, the title means That Was Easy, mirroring what in the f*ck happened in the end of this chapter and yeah, Kazuma and co. continues to mess things up. Although it's rather unfortunate for Darkness to not join the shenanigans lately, but it's something that I'll rectify later. Anyway, if you're asking about how Kazuma and Megumin to have the same level, it's because, in those two weeks, they're not only blowing shit up around Verdia's castle, but sometimes do real quest while employing the boring, yet practical tactic from Kazuma about her using Explosion to eliminate their enemies as much as possible and the rest will clean up those who managed to survive. Now, for the terms and references:

\- Explosion Is An Art: A quote made by Deidara from Naruto(He's an explosive maniac like Megumin, but less zany and crazier)

\- Baumkuchen: A German variety of spit cake. It is a traditional pastry of many European countries throughout, and also a popular snack and dessert in Japan. The characteristic rings that when sliced resemble tree rings, and give the cake its German name, Baumkuchen, which literally translates to "tree cake". It's also rather popular in Japan as Baumkuchen where it is called baumukūhen (バウムクーヘン). It is a popular return present in Japan for wedding guests because of its typical ring shape. It was first introduced to Japan by the German Karl Joseph Wilhelm Juchheim. Juchheim was in the Chinese city of Tsingtao during World War I when Britain and Japan laid siege to Tsingtao. He and his wife were then interned at Okinawa. Juchheim started making and selling the traditional confection at a German exhibition in Hiroshima in 1919. After the war, he chose to remain in Japan. Continued success allowed him to move to Yokohama and open a bakery, but its destruction in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake caused him to move his operations to Kobe, where he stayed until the end of World War II. Some years later, his wife returned to help a Japanese company open a chain of bakeries under the Juchheim name that further helped spread baumkuchen's popularity in Japan.

\- Riaju: A Japanese term for a fulfilled person in his life. Typically used by otakus to describe people who lead busy social lives, spend all their nights hanging out with friends and getting drunk and stuff, and people who have positive relationships with a significant other.

\- Ash Being Champion: It's a metaphor for impossibility cause no matter how good Ash became in the Pokemon series, the writer or studio just love to make him always lose in any pokemon league(barring Orange Island, it didn't count) be it from circumstance or pulling out Deus Ex Machina enemy at him.

\- All Germans Are Nazis: It's an unfortunate stereotyping to modern Germanic people due to the existence of Nazi in their country during the WWII era. While this stereotyping isn't prevalent anymore(cause, I'm pretty sure all Europe would rather forget Hitler than to remember him by calling all German people Nazis and the fact that the European Union really relies on Germany), there are still some pricks or pussies out there in the internet who really likes to call Germanic people this either for trolling or for the lols. Actually, let me tell you that this is one of the greatest insults to them and if you ever had any thought about calling Germanic people this, I'd encourage you to call them out right in front of their face instead of using the power of anonymity granted by the internet and see what happens.

\- Fourth Grail War Caster Gilles De Rais: A Fate/Zero reference, this guy is a nasty piece of work, that's all I'm gonna say, just google it and you'll know why.

\- Sword, One-handed Firearm, White Hair, and Red Trenchcoat: Reference from Dante in Devil May Cry series.

\- Tankgewehr M1918: The Mauser 13 mm anti-tank rifle (German: Tankgewehr M1918, usually abbreviated T-Gewehr) was the world's first anti-tank rifle—the first rifle designed for the sole purpose of destroying armored targets—and the only anti-tank rifle to see service in World War I. Approximately 15,800 were produced. During the First World War, the onset of static, trench warfare saw the rise in the use of armor plate for personal defense, and the development and use of armour-piercing ammunition to counter this. Both Britain and Germany used high-powered rifles, such as elephant guns from their African colonies, for this purpose. The first use of armored fighting vehicles (tanks) was by the British at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette in September 1916 and were followed by the French. By June 1917, the German Army faced the Mark IV tank and found that the standard armour-piercing 7.92 mm K bullet was no longer effective. This prompted the development by the Germans of a heavy-calibre and high-velocity rifle as an anti-tank weapon. The Mauser Company responded with the 13mm T-gewehr and began mass production at Oberndorf am Neckar in May 1918. The first of these off the production lines were issued to specially raised anti-tank detachments. The rifle was a single-shot bolt-action rifle using a modified Mauser action, with rounds manually loaded into the chamber. The weapon had a pistol grip and bipod, but no method of reducing recoils, such as a soft buttpad or muzzle brake. This could cause problems for the shooter with repeated firing. The iron sights were composed of a front blade and tangent rear, graduated in 100-meter increments from 100 to 500 meters. The rifle was operated by a two-man crew of a gunner and ammunition bearer, who were both trained to fire the weapon. Due to the tremendous blunt force of the recoil, it was designed to be shot in a static position, either prone or from inside a trench. The armour-piercing hardened steel cored 13.2 x 92mm (.525-inch) semi-rimmed cartridge, often simply called "13 mm", was originally planned for a new, heavy Maxim MG.18 water-cooled machine gun, the Tank und Flieger (TuF) meaning for use against "tank and flier", which was under development and to be fielded in 1919. The rounds weighed 51.5 g (795 gn) with an initial velocity of 785 m/s (2,580 ft/s). At 100 m an armor plate 22 mm thick could be pierced.

Type: Bolt-Action Rifle

Caliber: 13.2mm TuF (.525 Caliber)

Action: Bolt Action

Capacity: 1

Review Response:

\- IncognitoSandwich: Well, I'll try to censor less about my reference next time and if anything, I put up an explanation for some reference I made in the A/N.

\- ArmantusCumPinnae: I won't say anything or else it'd be a spoiler, mein freund. Also, ain't volksgrenadier is just a grenadier, but instead from military, it's a civilian in conscript?

\- RedSS: Glad you liked it! Also, I wonder why you keep calling Kazuma Kaiser lol.

\- PotatoZiriki: I follow the LN(primarily) and anime.

\- TheMysteriousOtaku: Of course, I can't pass a good joke like that. It's a funny as f*ck movie.

\- MysticSpider: The bounty is separate, 100k is just for completing the quest, 20k per goblin slain.

\- tsun: Heh, there you go.

\- XxPokemonMasterxX: Huh? What exactly is your question, kameraden?

\- TheGreatHazelnut: Thanks.

\- Ultra6man: Well, he did 'will' every the spent cartridge, but the bullet lodged inside his enemy? Nay. About vehicle, let's just see about that later while elemental magic won't be added to his bullet cause he can't learn magic at all(except Explosion for a morbid reason).

\- Judgment of the Arbiter: Your welcome, mein freund!

\- T51b Moridin: Yeah, lol.

That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and favs my story, I'll try my best to write this story to your and mine's satisfaction.

P.S. To Germanic reader out there, please correct my words or terms about German if I'm wrong since I'm still learning about your language. Tschüss!

P.S.S. To anyone who is also a Troper there(TVTrope dweller), if you like this story, I hope you might put this up in the fanfic recs or if possible, make a trope page! Although, I also recommend the same to Radiant Crimson by PRONTO3000 as it's one of the 10% worth getting killed and resurrected by Aqua fic(In my opinion).


	9. Die Vorahnung

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Die Vorahnung**

Eh?

With a gaping mouth, that's all I can mutter out as I leave my sight from the anti-tank rifle in my hand.

And apparently, everyone does the same thing.

Did I just kill a Dullah- Wait, let me rephrase it, Did I just fucking kill a Dullahan?

It's been around one minute after my initial or what might be a killing blow.

This must be a plan to let my guard down and surprise me, right?

For example, he might be teleporting before the bullet connects, shifting to an incorporeal form in order to phase through the nether realm to my position, a body double, illusion, or turning invisible to perform a sneak attack.

But none of that happened in the past one minute.

B-But his army of undead knights are still standing in front of us, so he must be alive, right!?

To confirm this situation without a doubt, let's keep observing the situation for a bit.

Five minutes later...

Everyone is in a restless state, still wondering what the heck just happened.

I can't blame them.

But I think it's safe now to let my guard down for a bit. Let's just hope when I do, there's not someone who is going kill me from behind.

With trembling fingers, I dug into my own pocket to take out my adventurer's card.

Pressing several glowing words, I- "What the hell is this!?" -uttered in disbelief.

The plan was detailed, you know?

Megumin would taunt the Dullahan to buy me some time to snipe him from afar. Then, after I perform the initial attack and stun the Dullahan long enough with my Tankgewehr 1918, Megumin would cast her 'Explosion'. If that isn't enough, Aqua will prepare her 'Sacred Turn Undead' right after Megumin cast her spell and if THAT is still not enough, Darkness will engage the Dullahan while Aqua retreats with Megumin to my position and enchant my firearm with Holy Attribute. AGAIN, If that is still not ENOUGH, I'd tell her to cast the same spell to many grenades I prepared. EVEN IF THAT FAILED AGAIN, we'll finally bail out. But nooooo, that plan went out of the window when I saw my adventurer's card.

There, it shows that my level went up from 20 to 25.

Now, now, 5 level leap isn't surprising. If you're low leveled that is.

And what does this imply?

Simple actually, I really did FUCKING kill a Dullahan, one who is a demon king army's boss in one shot.

I know that I'm using an anti-tank rifle to shoot it, but shouldn't a high-level undead possesses an incredible healing capability? Besides, I didn't have Aqua cast her holy element buff spell to my gun.

While pondering about this, Megumin decides to break the silence among the living and the dead by prodding the Dullahan's armor on the ground with her staff. Then, "Kazuma! How could you steal my chance to show the Dullahan who's the boss!?" She yelled while pointing her index finger at me.

The effect is obvious, everyone who was stuck in a stupor snapped out and immediately send their gaze upon me.

"Is it really true?"

"That can't be it, right?"

"Hey, hey, are you serious?"

"Wait, that guy is the one whose party almost burned an entire forest back then!"

"True, true, but I never thought he could kill the demon king army's boss that easily."

"Could he be another hero?"

"Oh shut it, at least we won't die, hooray!"

"Yeah!"

The tense atmosphere from earlier was dispersed and replaced by cheerful shouts as those kinds of things being spouted out by adventurers below.

"Hey Kazuma, you have the obligation to treat everyone in a grand party I'll hold by using the prize money!" Aqua suddenly yelled at me.

My eyebrows twitched at her and others loud bickering.

Did they really forget about the other problem?

"Shut up!" I suddenly yelled out loud, because- "Can't you see those undead knights are marching toward us!?" Yes, those undead knights that were summoned by the Dullahan didn't disappear and now, they are marching toward us in a rather quick pace.

"AAAAHHHH!"

"Save me, mother!"

"Hiiii!"

"Crap! I forgot about them!"

"Run for your life!"

"Fool! Their boss is dead, we can do this!"

"OOOOOHHHHHH!"

Wow, what a quick change of mood from tense to joy to panic. It'd be a hilarious situation where everyone is either running away or bracing for the incoming undead and if this is a story I'm reading, I'd be laughing my ass off, but alas, it is not and this is very bad. Though, at least not as bad as facing the Dullah- Wait, what the heck!?

Those undead knights do running toward our position, but as some adventurers who are brave enough to stay and fight cut/stab/blow/burn/froze/crush those undead knights, they didn't even bat an eye to them and just keep running forward without attacking back.

And their target is-

"Hey, Kazuma! Why are they coming to this way? Do they want to avenge their fallen master?" Aqua asked, oblivious to the fact that those undead knights set their eyes upon her.

"Hey Aqua, may I suggest something?" Hearing my question, she nods. Seeing that, I give her my answer. "I suggest you run."

"Huh? What are you talking abou- Kyaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh! Why are they chasing me!? Kazuma, help me! ! !" Cut off mid-sentence, she bolted away from her position and running back into the town.

Good grief.

I wonder why are they chasing her around, but oh well, useless as she is in the personality department, her healing spell and support buff are undeniably useful against the unholy creature like undead, which brought me another question of why didn't she just cast her purifying spell to them instead of running around? Oh, right, she's an idiot, that's why.

Slinging my Tankgewehr M1918 over my back, I shift my gaze to Megumin. "Hey Megumin, the spotlight is yours!" I yelled before epically jumps down from atop of the front's gate.

 _THUMP_

"Ouch!" I yelped in pain as I stagger forward from the landing.

Alright, that was a stupid idea. My legs are aching now from that action, but at least it's not that unbearable to run. I wonder why every hero in anime or manga I watched didn't feel this kind of inconvenience for jumping down from high places.

Shoving away those kinds of trivial thoughts, I immediately broke into a jog before quickening my pace to a run and finally a sprint toward Aqua.

When I finally reached a place in front of her in an intersection in the town, I wave my hand toward the incoming hetaregami. "Hey Aqua! Follow me!" I shouted before running down the street with screaming and crying goddess behind me with a large mob of undead following from behind.

Running through alleyways and narrow streets, we managed to slow their advance and allowing me to take several breathers before leading them again toward the town's gate.

Passing through the town's gate with many adventurers still dumbfounded at the turn of event, those undead knightsstill ignore them and focusing their attention on me, or more specifically, Aqua who is behind me.

"Come on, Aqua! We're almost there!"

"UWAAAAAAA!"

Running past the hill where the Dullahan previously stood, I can see Megumin standing on top of it and striking a pose.

"Go! Megumin!" I commanded as I saw all of the undead gathered behind us.

"O The Great God of Abyss

Grant unto me thy power

To smite thy opposition

Return to Oblivion! Explosion!"

 _BOOM!_

Megumin used Explosion!

It's super effective!

Foe's undead mob is finally dead for real!

Megumin earned ? Exp. points.

Megumin fainted!

While narrating that event in a pokemon battle-like sequence inside my head, I keep observing the cloud of dust surrounding the place where her spell took place and holding an M24 steilhandgranate in a case of there's any survivor from her blast.

As if answering my question, a small gust of wind blew past us to reveal that this time, lady fortune didn't fuck me up metaphorically as there were no traces left of those poor sod caught within Megumin's Explosion radius.

So, that's it?

While I'm the person who likes happy ending, I'm also a realist that belief in the case of a demon king army's boss like that Dullahan mounts an invasion or siege, I doubt there won't be any bloodshed or low body count, but alas, the situation right now is literally giving my estimation a huge middle finger by the fact that there is no body count or even anyone injured in any way(well, except me with my reckless action, but that's beside the point).

"Huhuhu, that's why you don't mess with my great party!" Aqua shouted while sporting a very annoying shit-eating grin on her face. Somehow, this causes me to wish that those undead knights rise again to give her a traumatic lesson, but I refrain from doing that cause I'm too tired to deal with another stupid shenanigan. "Hey, Kazuma! Don't forget to fund my party for our triumph over the stupid Dullahan! We shall throw the greate-" She added.

Must. Not. Tempt. Fate. Must. Not. Tempt. Fate. Must. Not. Tempt, Fate.

Muttering that mantra, I tried to tune her out and focus on something else.

And that something else is the girl who is currently lying down on the hill nearby.

"Hey, Megumin." Looking down on her(literally), I called her out.

Hearing that, she turns her head to face me and gave me a thumbs up.

Seeing her act, I could only sigh and shake my head in disbelief before giving her a thumbs up. "Nice Explosion."

"Nice Explosion. And could you help me now?"

With that, I 'will' my anti-tank rifle to disappear before giving her a piggyback ride.

Walking back toward the front's gate, we were greeted by cheers from all adventurers for our 'achievement' of defeating the demon king army's boss, Verdia.

While I should be proud and walk with my head held up high just like a hero would, I can't exactly do that and settled for a simple wry smile due to the circumstances surrounding our victory against the Dullahan.

Is this what Saitama felt when he OHKO someone?

Let's just hope that I'm not going to get used to this feeling.

Well, on the bright side, everything and everyone is fine. Also, the bounty for killing such powerful individual will surely earn me a great sum of money, right? Which kinda the reason why everyone-

"Hey hero, you'd treat us to a party, right!?"

"Hahaha! Of course, he will! Cause he's a hero!"

"Yeah! Let's paint the town red tonight!"

"WooHoo!"

-expect me to throw a party for this. Especially Aqua who is looking at me with beaming eyes.

Guh, what should I do?

Ah fuck it, let's just do it, might as well do it to calm down my stressful mind from all the event that transpired to me from my rebirth in this world up until now.

* * *

-o-

* * *

Adventurer's Guild

"Kazuma-san, first, we would like to express our gratitude to your party for preventing this town from being invaded by the demon king army's boss, Verdia, and his minions." Hearing what she said, the crowd inside the adventurer's guild turned noisy as some of them praising me. Ugh, I suppose I DID prevent them from getting killed, but I can't really take that compliment. Not because I'm humble or arrogant, mind you, but it's more like someone getting praised after stepping on an ant, it's that kind of feeling. Then, ignoring those loud noises, the guild receptionist, Luna-san added. "Next, we congratulate you for defeating the Dullahan Verdia and for that, we shall award you with 300 million Eris from its bounty."

Mein Gott, 300 million Eris!?

While it's understandable that I would earn that much for slaying a monster who could destroy a town and being a boss of the demon king army certainly helps, but I can't help to feel that rather than as a reward for my heroic feats, it's more like the feeling you get when you go to a supermarket and purchasing a random lottery ticket without really expecting to win only for your name to be called out the winner of millions of Yen later. Yeah, it's this kind of feeling.

Does it feel good? Definitely.

Does it feel satisfying? Definitely no.

While those train of thoughts running through my mind, I didn't even hear the receptionist calling out for me or the loud cheering among adventurers who expect me to treat them and throw a party. Only by taking an elbow to my left rib courtesy of Megumin snapped me out of my daze.

"Huh? What?"

"Um, well, since the amount of bounty is very large, it'll take few days for the money to arrive from the capital." The receptionist replied.

"Uh, okay..."

"Hey Kazuma, throw a party! Throw a party!"

Good grief.

"Fine, but don't go overboard, we haven't received the reward yet and all I can offer is around a million Eris to throw a party right now."

Hearing that, Aqua's eyes beamed up. "As expected of the magnanimous Kazuma! I knew that you are a one fine person!" She praised.

I don't feel praised at all since she said that just because I agree with her shenanigan.

But well, let's just enjoy the party.

A few hours later.

"BLEARGH!" Aqua vomited on a ditch next to the adventurer's guild building.

"How many times do I need to tell you to not overdo it, you hetaregami!?" I yelled while rubbing her back to ease her up.

Note to self: being crazy drunk is always a bad thing, no matter where you are.

Aside from Aqua going crazy no thanks to her being drunk after being challenged into a drinking game by several adventurers, the party is actually good.

Seeing everyone happily enjoying the party together, it's a quite moving experience seeing in myself while I'm a part of it.

I used to be hating this kind of stuff and would really love to yell out 'go die, you damned riajuu!', but I didn't do it. Why? Being a star of the party and being showered with praises sure do a wonder to a recently no longer antisocial guy like me. Though, the main reason is that I no longer feel unsatisfied from one hitting the Dullahan as some older adventurer told me that if I didn't one shot that Dullahan, many people in this town would be six feet underground right now and I deserve to be praised.

Although I don't really like being called a hero. Call me edgy, but let's face it, I can't exactly act in heroic manner since every(taunting enemy) little(would hit a woman or even child) action(using dirty tactics) that(always have running away as a main option when things go south) I(provoking trouble) did(killing a Dullahan mid-speech) couldn't be called a heroic feats.

While musing about those kinds of things, Darkness came toward us with a worried expression as she saw the state Aqua in. "Kazuma, is she alright?" That snapped me out of my stupor.

"Well, it's fine, she did this before and today is just a little bit too much than usual, so nothing to worry abo-" "BLEARGH!" Another wave of vomit came out of Aqua's mouth to the ditch, interrupting my explanation. Waiting until she's done, I continue. "Yeah, a little bit too much," I said as I rub her back harder.

"Uh-huh..." Darkness sweatdropped.

"K-Kashumaaaaaa... my head ish spinnnnnniiiiinnnnngggg around." Aqua finally managed to utter some gibberish word after emptying her stomach's content.

"And whose fault is that?" I deadpanned while steadying her wobbling body. "Well Darkness, we'll be going back early today, send Megumin my regard." Supporting Aqua, we walk away from the adventurer's guild building back to our stable.

"Y-Yeah."

* * *

-o-

* * *

Unknown Place

At the same time, Kazuma and his party are partying, another event took place in different location.

This time, it's in a certain room underground.

Within this dimly lit featureless room, there's a person sloppily dressed sitting down on the ground, no, more like being chained to the ground with another man in front of him looking down on the chained person with a look full of contempt.

Without any warning, the man kicked the chained person's head over and over again, but strangely, it didn't elicit any response from the chained man.

One may think that the chained man was simply already dead or broken, but that's not the case.

"You piece of shit! Why can't you fulfill a simple wish like that!?" The man yelled as he put more force into his kicks.

"Yee- Yee- Yee-" Either responding from the man's word or finally couldn't take a stronger hit anymore, the chained person let out a strange noise.

Hearing that, the man clicked his tongue in disgust and stopped his assault.

"I'll give you another chance. Do anything you can, be it killing, cursing, manipulating, or whatever it is to bring Lalatina to me! If you do, I shall pay the price!"

Reacting to the last word, the chained person looked up to the one kicking him earlier. "Price? You want to pay the price?" The chained person asked while tilting his head.

"It's true. I'm serious. You are too stupid, that's why you forgot that I have paid the price multiple times already. I will pay it properly this time. Go, Bring Lalatina to me." The man said in a friendly tone this time, but it was clear that the tone was faked.

"Yee- Yee- Yee-"

* * *

-o-

* * *

The Next Morning

"Ugh..." Opening my eyes at the sudden weird stench I smelled, I groaned while pinching my nose.

Right beside me is Aqua, hugging my sleeping-bag-covered body like some sort of a hugging pillow and breath out at my face.

Damn it, being awakened by a stench of strong alcohol in this early morning isn't exactly a pleasant thing.

I knew I should force this damn goddess to wash her mouth at the most least to remove the stench caused by both her barf and alcohol last night.

Prying her off without waking her up, I got up and promptly take my bathing equipment.

I can't sleep anymore because of that, so might as well as take an earlier morning bath.

By the time I was done, I met a wobbly hetaregami walking like a zombie towards the woman's section of the bathroom in her pajamas.

I could only sweatdrop at the surreal sight in front of me, but not surprised as I doubt anything could faze me anymore after what I'm going through in this new world. Yep, not even a goddess who governs over water, life, dead, and the afterlife with a religion that worship her who is acting like a drunkard could elicit a strong expression from me anymore.

Returning back to the stable, I dressed up in a green military uniform instead of the gray ones as said uniform is hanging on a cloth-hanger outside, still wet from being washed recently.

After that, I decided to go to adventurer's guild to do another usual routine of the day: breakfast.

Entering the building, I could see that there are only a handful amount of adventurers, probably due to the fact that those who participated in encountering the Dullahan got paid as well or still in their bed due to this being early morning or them simply yet to sober up from last night's party, which caused me to add another note to myself: don't drink too much.

Not to say I should never drink the alcoholic stuff, but more like don't overdo it like a certain goddess who drank around one and a half barrel worth of beer.

Sitting down on one of the tables, I ordered a simple roasted chicken, vegetable salad, and some sort of fruit juice due to my budget of 51,000 Eris left after treating everyone last night from its original 1,357,000 Eris.

Let's hope the prize money would come faster.

While digging into my meal slowly to enjoy the taste, the guild's receptionist called me out.

"Satou Kazuma-san, we finally received the notice from the capital and they informed us that the money will come in two weeks due to the distance. We're sorry for the inconvenience."

"Ah, that's fine, it's not your fault, I can be patience, hahaha..." Although I'm not.

"Very well and again, sorry for disturbing your breakfast."

"I-It's fine, I'm feeling thankful that you told me about it, so don't sweat it."

So much for my hope.

Returning back to enjoy my now lukewarm meal, I finished it rather quickly before waiting for my ragtag bunch of misfits party coming.

The first to come was unsurprising, Aqua, followed by Megumin, and finally Darkness.

I wonder why Darkness is usually being the last to come.

After waiting for them to finish the breakfast, I informed them about the reward money and Aqua, being Aqua, pouted and throwing a tantrum like a child since the money that she will be using to fund her party habit will only arrive in two weeks.

Seriously, this goddess is hopeless.

Surprisingly, though, Megumin and Darkness took the news rather lightly.

"What should be surprised about? That absurd amount of money would, of course, take that long to arrive." Megumin said.

"That's right, the location of this town which is very far from the capital and the fact that a demon king army's boss being slain in this very unlikely place for that to happen might affect it as well." Darkness added her two cents about it.

Well, I guess this confirms who is the most idiotic member of our party, though.

With that done, we resumed what we usually do: looking for a quest.

Standing in front of the quest's board, we saw something shocking.

There's about thrice the amount of quest available from before.

Looking at those quests, it's a rather mundane one like killing a specified amount of goblins, kobolds, treants, etc... and this applies to more difficult quest like hunting down Rookie Killer, White Wolves, One Hit Kill Bear, etc...

What's going on here?

When I asked the receptionist lady...

"Ah, this is because you managed to defeat the Dullahan Verdia. As I said a few weeks ago, Verdia's arrival was the reason why many monsters avoid hanging around these parts and now that you've defeated it, those monsters returned. And ah, don't blame yourself, it's better to face these kinds of monsters than the dreaded demon king army's boss, I'm sure everyone is thinking the same thing." She explained, eliciting a loud shout and cheers from other adventurers nearby who thank me again for Verdia's demise.

Well, I guess there's no problem then. In fact, I think this might be my luck since I need some money right now.

Taking a quest of hunting a Rookie Killer lurking around the forest, we depart immediately.

During our quiet walk to the location, Aqua decided to break the silence. "Hey, Kazuma, why did you take the quest of hunting Rookie Killer nonchalantly? Didn't you almost piss your pants when encountering them the first time?" She asked in an innocent tone.

"Listen here, aren't we a party who'll take on the demon king himself?" I said while raising my index finger. Hearing this, she nodded and I continue my explanation. "First, defeating the demon king army's boss, Verdia the Dullahan might be our stepping stone to defeat the demon king, but its demise was purely out of luck from my weapon being effective against it." I raised my middle finger. "Second, because of that first reason, we need to hone our skill and increase our level to a professional level in order to deal with any enemy we might encounter in our endeavor to defeat the demon king without relying on luck or chance too much." I raised my ring finger. "Third and final, I need money."

Hearing that, everyone had a stunned expression before Aqua decided to break the silence again. "Pfft, ahahahaha! That's rich coming from you, Kazuma!" She laughed as if I told her the funniest joke in the world, only stopping when she saw my strained expression from her stupid remark and lame pun. "Come on! You defeat Verdia and earned us 300 million Eris! If other adventurers heard you saying that, they might bludgeon you to death! Ahahahaha! How could you be so stupid! Hahahahaha!"

 _BONK!_

Smacking her forehead with the butt of my Gewehr 98, she was promptly knocked down on the ground, rubbing the sore spot on her forehead with an angry expression.

"Why did you hit me, jackass!?"

"Don't call me a jackass, you jackass! That prize money will arrive only in two weeks and my savings went from barely over one million Eris to about fifty thousand Eris was because of you throwing a great party last night! Now, who's the jackass, jackass!?"

"Uuu..."

"As expected from Kazuma, your bluntness knows no bound," Megumin commented.

"H-How savage..." Darkness joined.

"Haa... Whatever, let's just go and get this quest over with." I grumbled before slinging back my rifle on my back.

It didn't really take a long time for us to hunt down said Rookie Killer, but we found some unsettling things after Megumin eradicated the creature with her spell. Namely, more Rookie Killers.

We're lucky that I managed to detect them hiding behind some foliage and bushes to prepare for an ambush as the lone Rookie Killer lured us into their territory. With a simple herding tactic using MP18 instead of stick or herding dog, they gathered in one place and promptly got erased from this world without any trace by Megumin's spell as if Yoshikage Kira personally killed them. Though, even after that, I could sense some, although not as much as those we've killed, still a worrying number.

With Megumin down, we decided the safest course of action: retreat and report.

* * *

-o-

* * *

Adventurer's Guild

"Huh!? This is bad, we'll immediately issue this as a quest. And thank you once again for your report, Kazuma-san." The receptionist said.

"Ah, it's not a problem."

"No, it is. But not in that your report is problematic, but some other adventurers also reported similar things, but instead of Rookie Killer, it's some of the monsters that they took the quest of eliminating like goblins and kobolds."

Huh?

"So, I assume that this is unusual?"

"Yes, especially since the winter is near, those monsters should be diminishing, not increasing."

Does this in any way might be related to my one hitting the Dullahan?

She did explain earlier in the morning that the occurrence of monsters popping out left and right after the demon king army's boss was killed is a normal thing, but she also said their increase is rather abnormal, so what's really going on here?

 _BLAM!_

A loud noise echoed through the guild's hall as the door being slammed open by some individual.

Looking at that, I found out that those individual were Taylor and his party with a blonde young man who is probably the Dust he mentioned before and they possess the similar thing: bandaged wounds.

Rin got two on her left hand and right hip, Keith had his bandaged right arm in a cast, Dust had one around his forehead, but the three of them couldn't compare to Taylor's wound; a bloody bandage over his left eye, his armor cracked in many places with dried blood sticking on it, and his left hand missing an index and middle finger.

What the hell is going on!?

 _To Be Continued..._

A/N:

First, sorry for the long delay between the update this time, I'm rather busy with IRL stuff so yeah, this much of a delay happened and thank you guys for your awesome support to make this story possess 100 Followers and Favorited! For the chapter itself, the title means the premonition and I'm pretty sure explaining it would make me a captain obvious. For the plot, don't expect the spidery contraption to come to Axel as I derail the canon with this arc, that's all I'm going to say lest I'd spoil you guys. For the reference(no germanic or regular term this time):

\- Pokemon Battle: The sequence that goes in Kazuma's mind while describing Megumin's attack is this. I'm sure most of you get this reference right away, but just in case if you DON'T know pokemon, google up or watch youtube about the pokemon battle in the game.

\- Yoshikage Kira: A JoJo's Bizarre Adventure from part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable. He is the main antagonist in that part with his Stand: Killer Queen which possess multiple abilities and one of the most used or well known is his ability to turn anything he touched into a bomb.

Review Response:

\- T51b Moridin: Gun isn't exactly OP in a world filled with magic, but with the right way to use it, it is OP. Just watch GATE: Thus JSDF fought there.

\- TheGreatHazelnut: Look at the character pairing below the story's synopsis.

\- ArmantusCumPinnae: It's not like that, while technically and in the loosest sense he's a conscript, the skill made him possess a real deal of military personnel's skill. About MG42, I think not, WWI doesn't have that, but there's MG08/15, so...

\- RedSS: Thanks, and that's rather excessive, wanting someone to be in a bloody coma. While I do want that to happen to someone who said something like that willy nilly, it's only if they really mean it and if it's just a joke, a harsh admonishment or scolding should be enough, because during WWII, not every military personnel in Wehrmacht joined Nazi party. For example. their Kriegsmarine.

\- tsun: There, done :D.

\- XxPokemonMasterxX: Pretty sure Austria would never want to admit it, because there's a reason why there's a saying that Austria's greatest achievement was to successfully convince the world that Hitler was a German while Beethoven was an Austrian.

\- Ultra6man: Well, there's no stealth suit nor night vision goggles in the WWI era.

\- wman243: Overkill is the best kill.

\- MysticSpider: I'm trying and don't you see the pairing below the synopsis?

\- Guest: Yeah, keep dreaming.

\- PotatoZiriki: Wow, what a cruel idea to turn him into a weapon factory and I'm pretty sure suggesting that notion would earn you a bullet through your skull.

\- 5wayDragon: Nope, what you should ask is that why don't I make a joke about it being similar to their projection/gradation air since he doesn't have a distorted worldview nor his body made out of blade- I'm sorry, in this case, guns.

\- Milothepup13: I'm glad that you like it and you're welcome.

\- thundercharger123: Thanks!

\- Angryboy13: My gratitude.

That is all, goodbye! And again, please rate & review, I feel kind of lonely when nobody drops a review on me. Plus, it'd be beneficial for me and you readers as I can improve from your review while you have less to complain about the story. Also thanks for those who follow and favs my story, I'll try my best to write this story to your and mine's satisfaction.

P.S. To Germanic reader out there, please correct my words or terms about German if I'm wrong since I'm still learning about your language. Tschüss!

P.S.S. To anyone who is also a Troper there(TVTrope dweller), if you like this story, I hope you might put this up in the fanfic recs or if possible, make a trope page!


	10. No Rest For The Good(lol) Guys

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 9:**

Looking at Taylor's party condition, we immediately help them via Aqua.

Luckily, her healing magic includes lost limb or organ regrowth, allowing Taylor to regain his left sight and two fingers. Although, her healing didn't include restoring stamina as they took a seat on an empty table nearby the entrance with a very exhausted look plastered all over their faces.

Taking a glass of water that I asked from the waitress-san, I offer it to Taylor which he accepts. After he gulped down the content in almost an instant, I ask him the main question. "Taylor, what the hell happened to you and your party?"

"You won't believe it." He managed to said while breathing heavily. Then, after a few seconds, he continues. "We were just taking a simple job of hunting several kobolds a little bit further inside the forest. It all went well in the beginning, but when we managed to complete the quest and let our guard down, we were ambushed by several Rookie Killers." He paused again as he took a deep breath and looks visibly shaken. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he continues. "We could only kill two Rookie Killers by luck, but suffering the wounds you've seen earlier and surrounded without any way out. Then-" He stopped at that as his hand that holds the glass is trembling and causing a rattling sound from the glass.

"Then?"

Gulping down his saliva, he continues. "A young girl whose appearance look similar to Megumin-san, but with bigger chest- Ouch! Why did you do that!?" He was interrupted by Megumin who smacked his head repeatedly with her staff which earns her a smack from my fist.

"Continue." I urged him.

"Yeah, she suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, shooting many advanced class magic to repel or eliminate those monsters, creating a path for us to escape. While we pulled back, she held those monsters at bay alone, telling us to leave it to her and go back to town to recover, but she hasn't back yet, I'm worried of what might happen to her for facing that many Rookie Killers alone."

"Hmph, if she looks like me with probably a padding in her chest, she must be a Crimson Magic Clan member. And Crimson Magic Clan were known as the most amazing clan whose magic users are all high-class just like me, so she's probably fine." She said with confidence despite a rather large swollen red bump on her head(courtesy to my fist) being seen.

If she's as skilled as you are, I don't think she'll last that long out there.

"How long did you take to return here from her last location?"

"Eh? It's about fifteen minutes and even then, we are forcing our wounded body to run back as fast as we can despite our debilitating wounds."

"Aqua, can you fully heal someone even if they only have one third of their body left?"

"Of course, who do you think I am?"

"Then it's decided. Aqua, Darkness, you come with me. Megumin, you stay here, not because you're useless, but you don't have enough mana to cast another explosion for today." I sternly commanded.

"Muu..." Megumin pouted.

"Huh!? Are you even Kazuma!? Hey, you are Kazuma, right!?" Aqua asked exasperatedly.

"I am Kazuma and we have someone to help, are you, an Arch-priest really going to slow me down in my effort to save someone?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

Hearing my retort, everyone who listened to our conversation earlier cheered up.

"Whoa! I knew it!"

"Yeah! Not only he's brave and strong enough to kill a Dullahan, but he's also gallant and heroic!"

"I told you he was a hero all along!"

Ignoring those kind of flattering, I noticed Darkness put her left hand on Aqua's shoulder. "I agree with Kazuma. Aqua, we must hurry up or we'll be too late to save the girl from being ravaged by those savage beasts... And I don't want to miss my chance to be in that position." Darkness, being _Darkness_.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

-o-

* * *

The Forest

"Hey Kazuma, why are you acting so out of character? Did you eat something wrong? Did you get arrogant after beating a Dullahan and gain a backbone from it?" Aqua asked while walking beside me.

"Ha... You are idiot as always, Aqua. Don't you know the real reason for me to look for the girl?"

"Don't tell me!? Are you adding a harem member!?" Aqua asked dramatically while staggering a bit.

This hetaregami...

"What harem member? If I have a harem, I'd be dead first before having my own party consisting of you people as my harem."

"What!? How dare you!"

"Guh, how savage! I knew I was in the right party!"

"Returning back to the main topic, the reason why I want to help her is because if she's dead, we can loot her items. Hearing from Taylor that she might be a high-class wizard should means that she possess a high-grade equipment that will fetch a high amount of Eris for my pocket. And if she's alive and in a pinch, she'll owe us her life and we can ask her any favor we want."

Yeah, dead or alive, the unknown wizard girl would be useful for me.

I know that this kind of way of thinking and act is more befitting to a crook rather than a hero, but can you honestly blame me? I have a small amount of money on me right now and I also really need a lot of connection in this new world if I want to survive, so this is the most reasonable approach because at the most least, someone even more evil than me might do something like _this_ and _that_ kind of thing if they saved the girl.

"I knew it, there's no way Kazuma would act like a hero."

"How could you think like that, Kazuma!? But that kind of thinking... If I were treated that way, it's mmpphh! Kazuma, I think you're turning me o-"

Tuning out of something I'd rather not hear from Darkness, I march forward with flashlight in my left hand and MP18 in my right one, ready to pump any stupid creature who has any weird ideas to my party full of hot lead.

Walking a little bit further and we saw the place, not because of Taylor telling me the precise location, but due to the destruction of its surrounding such as several charcoals from burnt down tree, few ice spears nailing a Rookie Killer to a tree, a circular area where there wasn't anything but black scorch mark on the ground, and several uprooted trees which suggests something like tornado passed by earlier.

Is the girl Taylor mentioned did all of this?

If so, damn, I think what Megumin said might be right that we don't need to help her and she could survive by her own.

 _BAM!_

My train of thoughts crashed as a loud crashing noise can be heard close by.

Keeping our guard up, we approach the source of that noise to find...

"O the great lightning from above

Grant unto me thou might

So that thy enemy may be smitten! Thunderbolt!" A feminine yet stern voice resounded.

 _*Crackle* ZA-BOOM!_

A giant bolt of lightning suddenly fell from the sky, zapping the poor sod of a Rookie Killer who couldn't dodge out of the way, completely turning it into a Rookie Killer barbecue.

Standing before the charred corpse of a Rookie Killer is a girl wearing black robes and a cloak, underneath the cloak, she wears low-cut blouse and ultra-short pink miniskirts while she wields a silver staff still pointed at the direction of the Rookie Killer's corpse and keeps a short sword sheathed around her waist.

Probably noticing our presence, she turned around to face us and it's rather unsettling.

Why? Perhaps you'd like it if a pair of glowing red eyes staring at you at nighttime in the forest. Although, her face is pretty and really looks like a certain Arch-wizard who is in the adventurer's guild doing either dinner or rest.

"What are you people doing here!? It's dangerous to be hanging around at this place, especially this late! There's many Rookie Killers around here!" She shouted at us.

We could say the same to you, girl.

Though, I didn't blurt that out-

"I should be the one saying that." -yet.

Hearing my statement, her eyes went wide before her panicked expression turned into a frown.

"Just because I'm looking like this doesn't mean I can't handle them."

"Sure you can, but I'm asking you to return with us back to the town, it's already this late and you'll die if you keep this up. Anyway, those people you've saved already returned and healed, there's no reason to stay here much longer." I retorted back.

"Huh!? They did!?"

As expected, that riled her up.

"Yes, they did. And let's go back before more of them came..." Just as I said that, a rustling can be heard nearby-

"""GRRRRR..."""

"Fucking dogs." I swore.

Few minutes of swearing and gunfire destroying the quietness of the forest, we managed to kill around four Rookie Killers that attacked us.

Keeping our guards up for five more minutes, we finally confirmed that there's no longer any Rookie Killer coming through one of my skill.

"Let's go back quickly, god knows how much of them are going to attack us if we stay here too long." I urged.

The girl immediately puts touch her chin with one of her hands in a thoughtful manner.

"Understand, live today, fight tomorrow."

"Whatever floats your boat, then." I shrugged my shoulders in response to her statement.

With that, we went back to the town uninterrupted.

* * *

-o-

* * *

Axel, Nighttime

Arriving in front of the town's gate, we were planning to return to the guild to share the information and confirmation of this girl's survival.

Another case where there's a keyword named 'were'.

"Um, can we separate here?" The girl asked, stopping us in our track to the adventurer's guild.

Looking at her with puzzled expression, she replies: "I have an urgent matter to do, so I'm going to part here. But before that, can I ask your name?"

"Sure, I'm Satou Kazuma, this blue haired good-for-nothing Arch-priest is Aqua-" "Hey!" Aqua interjects. "-This Crusader who looks like an animal in heat when she blocked those Rookie Killers' attack is Darkness." Hearing that, Darkness' face flushed once more. "As expected of Kazuma, never knowing the time to tease a maiden." "Shut up," I quipped.

"Ah, Satou Kazuma-san, I apologize for my rude behavior earlier in the forest and I owe you one for helping me, for that, I shall repay this the next time we crossed path!" With that, she dashed away faster than any Italian soldier upon facing superior opponents.

Did she has an important thing to do?

Ah well, whatever it is, at least my goal was achieved.

"Hey Kazuma." Aqua called out.

"Hmm? What is it? We're going to get back to the guild if that's what you're wondering we'll do."

"No, why didn't you ask her name?"

...

"Err... Let's just hope we crossed path again later so that we could get her name." I muttered with a wry smile, causing Aqua to sneer at me in annoying manner.

Wipe that smug off your face, you hetaregami, it triggers me as bad as a Japanese being considered Chinese by uneducated plebeians.

Continuing from that, we proceed to return to the guild.

Inside the guild, the first thing that greets us is Taylor's party with expectant eyes.

Did they already know that we've returned from afar?

"Kazuma-san, how is it?" Taylor immediately asked.

"Calm down, I'll tell you about it."

Taking 15 minutes of our time to explain all of it, they sighed in relieve that their savior didn't end up like in most cliched plot of a heroic sacrifice or something like that and would really like to meet her again later. I share that sentiments as well. Though, I wonder why Megumin kinda seems surprised when I described the girl as when I asked her later, she said that she might know her, but probably not since Crimson Demon Race kinda looks similar to each other.

After that, there isn't much notable thing going on except them and some adventurers that happened to be in the guild at that time to thank me for my efforts and treat me for the dinner that night.

And with that, another strange day passed in my life in this strange world.

* * *

-o-

* * *

The Next Morning

After doing my usual thing, my group decided to look for a good quest that fetch a good amount of reward like we usually do, which is rather too many and yet...

"Killing one hundred Rookie Killers, raid type quest. Hey, what's a raid type quest?" I asked while rubbing my chin.

While I do know what Raid is in the game and all, the fact that this world functions similar yet so different from many games I played, it should be normal for me to ask this since if there's a quest to gather flying cabbage for huge reward, who knows how much absurdity this world could offer?

"Raid, huh? Although I've never been in one, it's a quest where multiple party joins in a huge group which consist at least six parties and at most ten parties to engage a very powerful monster or if it's in the capital of Belzerg, against monster's assault to the city." Darkness explained- "Though, I'd really like to join in one of it one day so I could experience enduring barrages of assault from many monsters or being used as a scapegoat if the raid fails, ehehe..." -and both ruining my mood.

"Let's move on, eliminate sixty Demonic Treants that appea-"

"NO!" x3

The three of them shouts in unison.

Fair enough considering what happened last time.

[Ahahahaha! Burn! Burn! Burn!

Sacred Create Water!

RUNNNNN!]

Yeah, I don't want to go through that again.

"What's this? Investigate the incoming Mobile Fortress Destroyer, quest cancelled. Huh?"

"Ah, that's a recent quest due to the rumors that Mobile Fortress Destroyer is coming to this town." The receptionist lady, Luna-san answered as she passed by us.

"Mobile Fortress Destroyer?" I tilt my head in confusion at that name.

"You don't know? It's just like its name, it is a literal walking fortress with the capability to destroy anything opposing it. Possessing a very high magical resistance and almost invulnerable to any physical attack, there's nothing that could defeat it up until now." She explained.

"Wait, couldn't you just kill it's user? I'm pretty sure even if it's indestructible, it's user should be not and one day he/she will need to leave the mobile fortress for a bit and that's when you can perform the assassination to end this problem, right?"

"It isn't that simple." She wryly smiled.

"Why?"

"Never once the creator leave that destruction incarnate at any point despite many high-ranked Thieves and Assassins tailing it for over many years. It's rumored that he's a crazy man who wants to destroy the world with that machine."

What. The. Fuck?

Why does a villain in this world so cliched?

Out of all things like world domination, money, rule, he chose a nihilistic path? And for some fucking reason, he almost succeeded if this keeps up.

Wait a minute...

"Hey, that poster doesn't imply that it'll come to us, right?" I asked in cold sweat. Remembering shits I've gone through and dealt with, this is not a paranoia. Probably.

"Ah, it did indicate that our town is in its path, but it somehow veered away from us, so we're saved and the quest was taken down immediately." She cheerfully explained before taking down said paper.

Phew, is this my Luck working?

If it is, it's not just a flavor text indeed.

"Although..." She trailed after rolling the poster and pocketed it.

"Although?"

"While it is fortunate that the death machine would not come at us, the staggering amount of monster assault and appearance in these days after the vanquishing of the Dullahan still bothers me." She said while wiggling around a little bit.

Hey, hey.

"Uh, you don't imply that our victory against that Dullahan was the reason behind this, right?" I asked in a lightly joking tone.

"What? Of course not! We are grateful for that and even if it does, it's still better than that Dullahan going into the town and murdering everyone."

"Ah, that's good then." I breathed out in relief at that statement.

At least being a 'hero' has it perks eh?

"Well then, I have to go now." She said while taking a glance at the counter which is filled with many people queuing, indicating the reason of her needed absence from us.

"Yes, sorry for taking your time." With a light bow and apology, I sent her off.

Now then.

"Hey Kazuma! I'll show you my greatness through this quest!" Aqua yelled excitedly while waving around a quest paper in her hand.

Taking it from her, the quest is about defeating a Zombie Maker in the grave nearby.

Oh hey, the reward isn't much, but the prospect of meeting undead type of monster, while scary, will be useful in the future for reference as I can't exactly use my encounter with those Undead Knights and Dullahan as a reference, being a one sided massacre on my part and I can finally see how this heal-only support goddess like Medea Lily from Fate Grand Order could be used as an offensive unit like Xuanzang.

"An Undead again? Well, if my greatest explosion spell could obliterate the army of that Dullahan who was known to be undefeatable, a mere zombie couldn't stand a chance!" She proudly declared.

"Yeah, if that spell hit those zombies." I quipped.

"Touche." She replied.

"Ah, the prospect of being assaulted by those filthy undeads, the creature who is a direct opposite of holy and purity made me shivers..."

"Please, for the love of god, could stop thinking about those things that only popped up in hentai doujins, Darkness?" I groaned.

"Hentai doujin[1]?" She tilts her head at that while Aqua giving me a disgusted look.

"Forget it, let's get to the mission."

* * *

-o-

* * *

Nighttime, Axel's Cemetary

"I'm starting to regret my decision, can we go home, please?"

While muttering that, our resident stupid goddess slowly takes a step back which earned her a smack to the head and being dragged by her collar.

"Oh come on! You're a goddess for god's sake! A mere undead shouldn't scare you away, right?" Saying that in a taunting manner, I turn to her, only to find her mumbling 'this is scary, this is scary, this is scary' over and over again. "You're kidding me."

As if that wasn't bad enough, a loud noise of explosion can be heard from nearby.

Turning to Megumin, she stared me back. "Just because I like explosion doesn't mean I like desecrating people's final resting place, you know." She muttered irritably.

"Let's go, it might be someone in danger and in need of help!" Darkness yelled as she runs toward the source of the noise.

"Wai- Ah, damn it, let's go." I sighed while dragging the still shell-shocked-goddess-for-whatever-reason along.

Following Darkness' lead, we arrived at the scene not unlike what happened with that Crimson Magic Clan girl again.

Trees either being burned or lying down on the ground while many craters with rising smoke or icy spikes in it, but instead of the Crimson Magic Clan member, we found a mysterious figure clad in a wizard robe facing twenty or even more Rookie Killers.

"'Freezing Field!'" The mysterious figure shouted as the ground below them starting to freeze and spreads outward to those Rookie Killers' position.

Ignoring the expanding field of ice, those Rookie Killers charge forward, intending to kill the mysterious figure.

Knowing that she's probably not an enemy, I released the safety lock in my sub-machine gun and took an aim before sho-

'GRAAAA-'

The howling and advance of those Rookie Killers stopped when their paws touched the expanding ice field.

Why?

Because all of them are now encased in an icy prison.

Following that, the mysterious figure chanted again. "'Shatter!'"

One word, just with that simple word, a loud noise akin to glass breaking resounded throughout the grave as those twenties Rookie Killers that were turned into living sculptures seconds ago now becomes a frozen mincemeat on the ground.

Also with that, the ice field disappeared.

Seeing that there's no threat(monsters), we approach her slowly. "Who's there!?" The mysterious figure yelled at our direction.

"We're just adventurers!" I shouted back while still approaching the mysterious woman(from her voice).

"Hey Kazuma, is it really wise to approach her like that? Shouldn't we keep our distance so that in the worst case scenario, I could cast my spell?" Megumin whispers those dangerous thoughts.

"Shh, we have to show a good faith. She might be a good person who fights those monsters for quest or something."

"What if she's evil and going to kill us all?"

"We'll cross that bridge when the time comes, now cease this dangerous discussion, she could hear us."

Looking at us and in return, we finally saw her appearance, she's an adult woman with a pair of huge ti- I mean tracts of land and straight brown hair with the fringe covering her left eye.

Staring dumbly at each other for a second, we were _nicely_ interrupted by a sudden appearance of two Rookie Killers leaping from the bushes behind her, probably waiting for the right time like when she's distracted right now to strike after seeing what she could do to its fellow.

"Tch!" I clicked my tongue as I unload my bullets upon the one attacking from her left side, but unable to turn fast enough to shoot the one in the right.

Everything went to a slow motion as the other Rookie Killer opens its jaw, showing us its sharp teeth lined up in its mouth as if a paper shredder machine that will tore her flesh to shreds. She could only widen her eyes as this happens.

Strangely enough, while I feel panic began to rise, I also noticed that she didn't even feel in danger if her expression is any indication. Because while her eyes widen, I think it's her surprise to the noise my weapon caused and even then, I think it's more of a curiosity than surprise and she probably knew there's two Rookie Killers behind her, but not minding any of them.

The phrase 'only time will tell' was never this intense like this, but when its jaw is close enough to chomp a large part of her right shoulder, another surprising thing happened.

 _BZZZZZTTTTT_

As if she was surrounded by a glass tube with running electricity, the Rookie Killer bounced away after ramming head first into it and enjoyed the taste of being electrocuted as it wriggles on the ground.

"'Earth's Punishment'"

 _SHRAKKKK!_

The loud sound of flesh being torn can be heard as a lot of stalagmites erupted from the ground, impaling the paralyzed Rookie Killer in a way that would make Vlad The Impaler proud.

"What are you all doing here!?" She chides us without even sparing a glance at the dead Rookie Killer.

We, who were awestruck by her magic performance could only gape while she's chiding us with the same thing the Crimson Magic Clan girl said yesterday.

What the heck is going on?

Is it like in the video game where after defeating a certain boss, you'll encounter a stronger ally to be recruited into your party? Nah, probably not since that should means the Crimson Magic Race girl from yesterday is in our party by now.

Though, the one who was snapped out of the stupor first is... Surprisingly, Aqua.

"LICH! LICH! I'm going to purify you, LICH!"

Shouting those words like some punks shouting profanities, Aqua charges forward to the mysterious woman, genuinely surprising her as she staggered backward.

"'TURN UNDEAD!'"

And thus the spell of undead slaying was unleashed from Aqua to the woman with great effect, her physical body turned blurry and transparent as if she's going to disappear any moment.

Could this lady over here actually being a Lich? I know it's a stupid question to ask, but seriously? Liches in my image is an undead with the appearance of icy blue skeleton wearing robes or chains around their body and looking like, well, dead man walking instead of a run of a mill attractive lady(Monmusu)[2] notwithstanding). While being lost on my own musing about lich and all, Aqua looks at me and yells out why am I standing like a moron and not helping her. So to save myself out of the hassle of being yelled out again by this annoying goddess, I decided to approach her slowly with the others following behind me.

"Burn this sight of I, the greatest and purest and kindest and- Ouch! Why did you hit me in the head!?"

"Because if you talk too much, this lich would recover and either run or obliterate us all just because of what you did."

"Oh right, then taste this, 'Turn-"

"Wait! Please wait a second! I won't try anything strange, I swear!" And thus, the lady pleads pathetically.

"Huh!? Do you really think I would believe your fake plead, lich!?" And thus, the (lol)goddess retorts.

"Aqua, stop and just prepare to cast it when I said it." I said while pulling her back. Standing in front of the lich, I might have doomed myself if she turned out to be those kind of villains who pulls a lot of crocodile tears schemes to kill the hero or escape from narrow situation such as this, but seeing the firsthand how Aqua's healing works, I could justify myself even if I receive mortal blow. "Now, who are you and what are you doing around here?"

Breathing in relief after hearing my question, the transparent lich looks at me before quietly answering with sobs.

"I am one of the demon king's army boss, Wiz the lich and I'm here to eliminate those rookie killers."

"Alright Aqua, cast it, peace and money, here I come." I commanded.

"Wait! Please wait! Let me explain myself for a bit!"

"Yosh, let me exterminate her and we'll drown in golds afterward! Cast 'Turn Und-'"

"Uuuuu please, I swear for my honor as the demon king's army boss I won't do anything bad and I never intended to do anything of the sort, so just please listen to me!"

Ah shit, we made her cry.

Stopping Aqua from finishing her chant which ended up in her spouting profanities at me and something along the line of making sure that if I were in any sort of mortal or grave injury, she would significantly slow down the healing time so that I can 'enjoy' the pain longer, she relents and stood behind me again, glaring at the sobbing mess that is Wiz the lich.

Looking at her closely, she really is a beauty, but at the moment, that beauty is quite ruined by her apparent childish sobbing mess condition she acquired after all we did to her. Even I could feel pity coming out of Darkness and Megumin from behind.

After giving her the chance to explain herself that she was living in Axel all along and actually becoming some sort of monster repellant out of the fact that stronger monsters were all scared like rats before a cat while weaker monster considers that she won't bother with them was the only reason why Axel is a beginner's town. Formerly an adventurer, now a retired one after becoming lich, she opened a magic shop in town which was confirmed by Darkness about its existence and occasionally wandering around to hunt dangerous monsters that threaten the town or pacifying the dead people's soul. Basically rather than lich, she probably closer to the angel of death or grim reaper rather than lich. Although, her magical prowess obviously shows that she fits the bill of being called a lich. Also she hates Beldia, that's why we're going to spare her much to Aqua's chagrin.

"What the hell is wrong with you, bakazuma!? That's a huge amount of money you let go! Blablabla-" I tuned out after just two sentences she spouts out of her mouth. Talking to her at this current mode won't work as she won't listen to anything I say.

Anyway, setting my gun's safety lock, we decided to return back. Though, I feel like I missed something.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 _Around the Same Time Kazuma and Co Returned Back._

In the middle of the night, a man wearing long black coat and a wide brimmed hat stood in front of the town's gate, inspecting it a little bit before mumbling to himself, not noticing three Rookie Killers sneaking behind him to try to get their meal.

Or so they thought before they leap for the kill.

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_

Three shots, three holes on three Rookie Killer's spot between their eyes with blood leaking out of it.

The man who was originally inspecting the gate now stood with his hat dropped and a pair of pistols in both hands, still giving out smoke out of their barrels and revealing his face, a white haired man with shoulder length hair and an eyepatch on his left eye.

Spinning both gun a little bit, he then quickly puts them back to their holsters strapped on his legs before picking up his dropped hat.

"Good grief, what an annoying pest." He grumbled to himself before entering the town.

 _To Be Continued..._

A/N:

Okay, I'm suck at updating and shit, but I'll just state two things why this fic got delayed as long as heck : University's Term Exam and Fate/Grand Order, nuff said. Raising Shinsengumi! and Melt is hard enough as is along with the pesky things called exam added to that really do the magic trick of delaying this fic that much and with Fate/Grand Order English's release coming on 25th June and inbound Summer Event, I doubt I'll be updating soon, but expect me to update because at the time of the writing, I already poured my next chapter idea so that will help me work on it as soon as I get the break from all this stuff. For the references :

[1] : Self explanatory or if you really don't know which I very doubt, it literally means perverted fanarts a.k.a porn manga made based on an existing series or sometimes original ones.

[2] : Monmusu or Monster Musume or Monster Girl or more known as Monster Girl Encyclopedia is about all kinds of monster you can imagine being fetishized into fapping material. Just google it, but don't shit on me because that's mostly NSFW.

For this chapter, I have no commentary or summarizing the chapter as usual, but I'd like to at least thank you all for passing the 100 comment and over 200 favorites and followed as that is not a small number to me at all. So thank you for the support, guys and I'll try harder at making this fic greater or at the most least stay great as it is. That is all, I'll see you all in the next chapter.


	11. Neu Feind

Disclaimer : KonoSuba is owned by Akatsuki Natsume, I don't own anything about it and only using it as a material of my fanfic.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 **Chapter 10 : Neu Feind  
**

"HAAAAAAAH!?"

In response to Aqua's loud outburst, Luna-san winced a little bit.

Why did this happen?

Let me explain it to you, it all started in the morning when we report our finding yesterday(but omitting the fact that Wiz-san is a lich for obvious reason) and ask for compensation. Although our reports are very informative, it still doesn't change the fact that we failed our quest. That's fine and all since the information we provided is good enough to balance out the penalty for failing a quest and some kind adventurers who saw the Crimson Magic Clan girl's safe return gave us some of their money to console us. Not a problem at all.

Really.

At least not until Luna-san suddenly dropped the news that the carriage carrying our money was attacked by strong monsters in the forest on its way here. The people who delivers it suffered some casualties in their ranks, but managed to arrive here safely and currently being treated. The money on the other hand, was scattered everywhere in the forest since they opted to throw it away so that those who are injured could be carried with the carriage instead.

I couldn't blame them, life is more important than money after all. But, the real problem lies in...

"What do you mean the capital won't recompense us from this!? How am I going to party if it's like this!?"

"I'm sorry, Aqua-san. But it's the capital decision, we can't exactly go against that despite how unfair it is. They also demand compensation for the death of some of their knights who were killed and for not giving them any information about the sudden increase of powerful monsters earlier too." Luna said dejectedly while bowing down in front of Aqua. Not that you need to apologize that profusely.

What a bunch of A-holes.

Well, I shouldn't expect much from the kingdom from now on, should I?

Of course I also didn't forget to follow up regarding the fact that they're demanding recompense which Luna-san answered satisfactorily with the fact that a local noble would bear that burden instead since it's happening in his jurisdiction. By the way, said noble name is Ignis. I wonder what kind of person he is. Though, Aqua's dissatisfaction only increased further and lash out on Luna, threatening to drown this city with her spell that could extinguish a forest fire and left it ruined for a while. Sheesh, can't you a little bit more patient than this?

In response to her outburst, I immediately apologize to Luna-san before dragging Aqua back to a corner. Seriously though, I'm afraid she'll really do it if she's pissed enough. While she's a stupid goddess, I have to admit that in terms of power, she REALLY is one and her stupidity could lead to bad things happening if she's really serious about it. Maybe this is what people of old times in my world's myth felt when they're in an era where gods and goddesses could interact with them.

"Hey Aqua, don't say scary things like that. While I know that the capital is in the wrong here, we can't exactly do anything about it. Threatening them would only paint us in a bad way."

"But Kazuma-"

While trying to pacify this goddess, I didn't realize a presence closing unto us before its directly behind us and interjects.

"Heh, isn't it simple, the course of action you should take."

Since when did he appear from behind!? I didn't notice his presence.

"Who are you?" Aqua asked quizzically.

"Who am I isn't important, but if you want to call me, just call me wanderer K." The man replied while taking a seat nearby us.

What's up with his way of talking?

This guy is suspicious, is he a thief or rogue considering his attire consisting of ragged robe and wide brimmed hat that covers half of his face.

"Sorry, but I overheard what you two are talking earlier. First, I would like to say thank you for protecting this town as I have a goal to achieve here, which won't happen if this town got destroyed. Second, I am impressed to meet a goddess from one of the major religion in this world."

W-What!?

Since the beginning of our journey, nobody took Aqua's nonchalant declaration of being a goddess, just how this man could say that? Is he a gullible person or could he tell that Aqua really is a goddess or is he just a plain stupid guy?

"Hey Kazuma, someone finally recognize my grandeur as a goddess! Yes, I am Aqua, the godde- Guh!"

"Sorry mister wanderer K-san, but you got the wrong person. She's just a chuuni claiming to be a goddess, nothing more, nothing less." I interrupted while covering Aqua's mouth to prevent her blabbering from going further and further.

"No, I know a goddess when I see one. Because I've met Eris-sama once in person before, one can tell that she's a genuine goddess if you look closely."

Meeting Goddess Eris in person? Even I only had a glimpse of her figure right before this useless goddess got dragged with me during the transfer into this world. How could this guy met her? A chance encounter? Actually a priest of her sect? Or he simply lied to us? These kind of questions popping up in mind as I tried to make sense about what he said.

"Just who are you?" Probably sensing my thought, Aqua perked up and asks right after hearing about Eris.

"I believe that I already told you, right? I am wanderer K. I've abandoned my real name a long time ago."

This guy is starting to get on my nerves for answering a question with vague or even nonsense answer. His attitude not helping.

"Don't worry about me spreading the fact that she's a goddess, I'm not stupid enough to cause a chaos in the town filled with beginners. Anyway, I told you that there are simpler solutions to your problem, right? Just accept it and let yourself be ruled by the capital and be their cute little puppy forever or destroy the country and rule it as its king so that you can prevent such things from happening again."

Did I hear that correctly?

"Excuse me, but did you just nonchalantly said loads of crap? Are you perhaps having a mental problem?"

"No, you are though. This world isn't so kind for you to have your way going unless you dare to defy your fate and toughen up to gain the resolve to trample everything that gets in your way."

In response to his rage-inducing answer, I stared at his figure while obviously showing my hostile intent as a response to his demeaning behavior.

Probably noticing that, he just chuckles before leaving the building. When he's about to exit the building through the door, he turns to look at us and said: "There's only two path in life when you're facing trouble: Not doing anything at let yourself be a fate's bitch or Do something till the end to destroy that gate. There's no middle ground in that. Which one are you?"

With that, the bastard leaves the building.

"What is wrong with that guy?" I muttered out loud.

"Well, his attitude isn't that good, but I think he's an okay guy for realizing my greatness!" Aqua cheerfully drops her two cents that I don't want to hear.

Not long after that, Megumin and Darkness arrived and as expected, both of them are disappointed after hearing the bad news. Though, even more so for Megumin since she planned to spend her money for upgrading her staff again to increase its specs.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 _Alderp's Manor_

 _Knock Knock_

"Yes, this is Alderp-sama's home, what can I help you?" Answered a maid from the gate.

In front of her, stood a man in black garments all over that consists of wide-brimmed hat and long black coat.

"I want to meet your master."

The man stated such intention without even looking at her.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't allow anyone in unless they've made appointment with master." The maid said uncomfortably.

In response to that, the man just chuckles before taking off an eyepatch from his left eye, revealing a purple eye with multiple magic circles embedded in it, contrasting with his natural green eye in his right socket.

Muttering something incomprehensible to human ears, the maid's expression turned into that of a confusion before the man stares at her directly in her eyes.

"Let me meet your master."

With that simple words of command, the maid's immediately stood straight up and gesturing him to get in without a word with listless expression replacing her previously confused expression.

 _Meanwhile, in Alderp's room..._

A fat man in his pajama can be seen looking out of his window to watch the ever so peaceful Axel town from his room while giggling to himself.

"Hah, that devil sure works great despite being a trash huh? I couldn't believe that a simple persuasion to that stupid Ignis be enough to make him pay for what should be my fine. No, I am even more surprised that the trash could make even the capital's higher ups choose such decision. With this, getting Lalatina should be a matter of time, gufufufufu..." Evilly laughs Alderp at his own musing, not noticing that an intruder just entered his mansion.

Though, that didn't last for long one of his maid opened the door to his room while bringing an unknown person wearing shady clothes before closing it, leaving the mysterious man and Alderp alone in the same room.

"Who are you!? Who allowed you in!?" He shouts out at the mysterious man to no avail as no one seems to listen to his shouting.

"Who am I doesn't matter. It's the judgement time for you, Alderp. You'll pay for your sins." The man said as he menacingly walks toward Alderp while emitting some sort of dark energy from his body.

"Stop it! Get away! Max, kill this bastard!"

Despite all his plea, it was in vain as the mysterious man held him up by his collar and stares deeply into his eyes.

That day, the man named Alexei Barnes Alderp was gone from this world.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 _Afternoon, in the forest nearby Axel_

 _BANG!_

"Yosh, that's the last of them." I said before unloading the spent cartridge of my rifle and strap it on my back.

In front of me, there's a lot of small fries enemy such as goblins, kobolds, and some small treants laying about above their own pool of blood. Not really much of a threat to normal adventurer, but could be dangerous to normal civilian who happens to go through this path.

Earlier, we took this easy quest instead of hard one because:

1\. We lacked any motivation from doing anything and yet we need money to fend ourselves, so we took the easiest quest.

2\. Doing hard quest would be suicidal since without a focus in doing so, we'll probably return as a history a.k.a dead.

3\. I want to visit Wiz-san's place.

Going back to the town, me and Megumin decided to visit Wiz's place while Aqua and Darkness went separate ways for their own business which I probably shouldn't imagine. And Megumin isn't on my back due to her absence in participating our quest earlier no thanks to the small pathway where we fought preventing her to cast it lest she'll blew us all.

By asking the townspeople the whereabouts of this so-called Wiz's magic item shop, we managed to find her place. Though, I also feel kinda bad for her since some of those townspeople I asked commented that her shop is always in a verge of bankruptcy yet still lives on either due to some people taking pity upon her and bought some of her shady magic items or a charity from neighbors, thanking her for her help sometimes. A waste not want not situation.

Opening the door, we heard a bell ringing above us, probably for telling her a customer is coming.

In her shop, I can see a lot of strange items being displayed on the racks, tables, and floors. Some of them are generic magical items like potions, to even strange contraption that I don't know what it could be called. Aside from items, we saw Wiz sitting down on a cashier's stand and talking with a man wearing suit and strange black and white mask who held a teacup in his right hand.

"Ah, it's Kazuma-san, right? I see that you brought your friend with you." Noticing our presence, she called me out and urges us to come.

"Hmm, so this is the young man thou art talking about, no?" The man said before sipping his tea.

"Yes, he helped me yesterday to fend off some wild monsters around this town." Wiz cheerfully answered. "Ah, you two, just take a seat there. I'll prepare another cup of tea for you two." She added before going away behind the cashier stand.

"Please excuse us." I uttered before sitting beside the unknown man on my right side with Megumin on my left.

I wonder why I need to meet two weird man today? First, the guy from this morning and now, a masked man with strange way of speaking.

"So art thou the one that eliminate a lot of those weak puppies along with Moi acquaintance?"

Little puppy? Is he talking about those Rookie Killers?

"Ah, yes. If you mean those Rookie Killers, I did help Wiz-san eliminate them to prevent civilian casualties from their assault."

"Moi see... Ah, how rude this gentlemen is, Moi forgot to introduce to thou who Moi truly art." With that, he put down his teacup before standing up from his seat and perform a gentleman's bow[1]. "My name is Vanir, One of the Demon King's General, also known as Duke of Hell." Right after mentioning such title, an ominous and oppressive aura assaults my body.

W-What.

Why the hell would a big shot from demon side would come to this town full of new adventurers!? Could it be that he wants to curb humanities potential by killing prominent new adventurers before they become a great threat to them? Shit, what should I do? This situation is bad.

"Are you serious? If so, I shall eliminate you right here and now and claim the title to be the Arch-wizard who defeated a Demon King's General!"

Surprisingly, Megumin is the one who snapped out of the shock from his introduction by shouting and pointing her magic staff at his face.

"Hohoho, what an interesting fellow thou art, hmm? Art thou a Crimson Magic Clansman?" Vanir asked in interested tone while rubbing his chin.

"Yeah, my name is Megumin! I embrace the dark art and use it to vanquish dark being!"

"Moi see, Moi see. Moi hath fought with one of thy tribesmen few times before with Moi victory as always, but they're a rather 'unique' bunch to fought. Though unfortunate, Moi hath a more pressing matter to attend to, so Moi will take thine offers later... For now."

Without anything to say other than that, he sit back and disperse his threatening aura from earlier, releasing both tensed atmosphere and my body.

"Huh!? What's that!? Then, it's more of a reason to fight! I know you're up to no good if fighting us wasn't in your interest!" Megumin retort while pointing at him.

Hey, stop that, we're going to be killed if we recklessly attack him. Or so I wanted to yell at her, but Vanir immediately shows her with one palm raised, signaling her to stop.

"Doth not worry, Moi, Vanir, The Demon General and Duke of Hell, hereby swore that Moi shalt be killed should Moi harbor hostile intent or acting in a way that threatens this town." He chants while a spinning and glowing magic circle appeared below his seat and burst into purplish light after he's done chanting. "There, art thou happy, with this oath, should Moi break what's Moi forbidden to, Moi shalt be killed by Moi own magic. In the first place, what art thou expect for a Duke of Hell like Moi doing in this town full of fledglings who couldn't pose a challenge to Moi?"

Geh, it hurts being underestimated by him, but he's right. Unlike Beldia the Dullahan we've faced before, this guy seems to be the smart mage type who thinks using their brain instead of brawn. This is not the time to fight him. Especially when we don't even know what his capabilities nor have a plan to take down a demon king general level of enemy.

And of course Megumin would run her mouth for being underestimated and shouts at him, but I immediately put a stop to that unless we want to end up meeting a grim reaper. Though, I still wonder what he's doing in this town.

"Well, well, what kind of matter do you have in this town?" I asked.

"Hoho, it's none of thy business, but let's just say Moi was invited here by a certain person who said something interesting to Moi." He said before putting down his cup and stand up. "Then, Moi shalt take Moi leave."

"Oh, leaving already?" Replied Wiz who just came back with a tray filled with tea and light snacks from behind the counter.

"Ah yes, Moi greatest gratitude for serving Moi some light refreshment that Moi doesn't actually need, but Moi shalt go now to Moi business."

With that, one of the greatest threat to humanity leaves the shop.

That was strange, to say the least.

And of course after that, we immediately bombard Wiz-san with questions about Vanir to the point we could see a pair of spirals spinning in her eyes no thanks to us. Poor Wiz, we might've been too much for doing that.

* * *

-o-

* * *

An Hour Later, Alderp's Mansion

"So, I see that you've accepted my invitation, _monsieur_ Vanir."

A fat man muttered in deep tone while overlooking the town displayed from the window of his mansion. Though looking like an ordinary overweight person, if one possesses a magic discerning eyes, one can see some flickers surrounding the man as if he's an illusion.

In response to the man's call, another man in suit with ornate mask on his face suddenly appeared behind the overweight man's shadow while clapping his hands.

Hearing the sudden clapping behind him, the overweight man didn't even bat an eye to the person suddenly appearing out of nowhere right behind him and just chuckles before turning to face said person.

"Bravo, superb. Never once in my long life have Moi got noticed by a mere human being when Moi in stealth. Or could it be that thou art not a human being?" Vanir muttered with curiosity plastered all over his face.

It's justified. In his life as a demon king general, no, scratch that, in his life when he was still an Arch Duke of hell who loves preying on humanity's suffering from his nefarious pranks, he never once got noticed _before_ his plan comes to fruition. The only one who would notice and even then, it's because they're too used to get pranked by him are high ranked demons of hell around his position.

So, it comes as a surprise when a mere human who didn't possess any magical talent or anything remarkable aside from being a ruler around this area to detect him like that. Although his original intention is just to surprise him before discussing things normally with this human, it seems that it could wait for this.

"What are you talking about? I am a human, monsieur Vanir."

Turning back to look at the curious demon king general, his flickering body burst into dark mist to reveal that a white haired man with heterochromic eyes of green and purple wearing a simple shirt and pants stood while spreading both hands open.

Seeing that, Vanir rubbed his chin with interest before walking closer to him.

"Hou? Illusion Magic? Or could it be that it's a body modification magic?"

"Hmph, it's just an illusion magic with very powerful effect, body modification magic will only bring demerit to me for copying that trash's form. Anyway, let's talk about why I invite you here, monsieur Vanir. Please take a seat." He said before sitting down on an ornate chair with various engravings.

As indicated by the man, Vanir easily agreed to it and sat on the ornate chair across him.

"I see that you are still looking for your missing friend, am I correct? Ah, sorry that I forgot to offer you some refreshment. Not that you'd need it considering what you are."

"Hou? So thou knew about it huh? Moi dear, just from whom did thou hear such thing?"

Right after that, a pressure immediately emitted from Vanir's whole body against the man sitting across him.

'Just who is this person.' That kind of thought is what filled Vanir's mind right now. The only people who knew about the circumstances of his missing 'friend' are only his fellow Arch Duke of Hell and it was to be kept secret to avoid chaos that would erupt upon his territory during his absence from arrogant demons. If this man spread such things...

In face of such pressure, the man only chuckles instead of cowering in fear. And-

 _BANG!_

A loud noise erupted from the man as a smoke rises from his right hand that held a small strange object pointed at Vanir. And Vanir-

"Guh, bastard, what art thou planning to do?" He groaned while clutching his holed chest.

"Don't be so melodramatic, you possess a lot of spare life in stock, right? Besides, I know that your real body isn't here. Also, I didn't invite you here to fight, I have no such intention."

With that, the man spun the object before putting it back into the 'sheath' located on his left hip.

"Coming from someone who took one of Moi lives easily, art thou a fool?"

With that, his body turned into dust, leaving only the mask before said mask floats and Vanir reappeared from that.

"No, I'm just proving that I'm not a mere human who could be a plaything for you. Although, I don't mind a business-like relationship between us."

"Fuhahahahaha, interesting! Truly wonderful! Never once hath Moi seen such person like thou. Fine, I'll listen to what you want to say for piquing Moi interest this far!"

"Glad you'd listen. Then, do you believe in time travel?"

And with that, the townspeople wouldn't know that their days will never be the same again since that day.

* * *

-o-

* * *

 _Few Weeks Later  
_

"Ah, I can't believe we made it out alive through winter with our scarce amount of money..." I muttered out loud while downing a glass full of Neroid Swish in one go to finish my breakfast.

Truly, never would I have imagined that I would survive the whole winter by living in the low cost inn that doubles as what my world would call 'love hotel'. Listening to moanings and all that every night in few weeks, the temptation is too much for the virgin me to held it in my pants. I even thought about hiring some prostitute to take a release, but I don't think I could do that with our amount of budget and would worsen my relation with my party member which I don't really give much of a damn, but need.

A-Ah~ They'll probably said things like-

'Kukuku, weak, how weak, for a member of my party to be losing against the temptation of flesh, what a fool!'

'Ha~ Ha~ Ha~ If you got a time to do that, why wouldn't you come and punish me instead!'

'Hee~ Yowazuma[1], congratulation on losing your virginity(lol) to a mere prostitute, you must've felt great right? Also despite having many beautiful party member and choose to lose it with prostitute, that's rich considering you always told me not to splurge on my spending.'

I really don't want to be lectured by morons, especially the last one or else I'd lose face. And thus, I could only use my [God Hand] to release 'it' [2] and managed to endure it.

"I'm sleepy, I'm bored, I want to held a party..."

Like a zombie from famous movie, Aqua enters the bar with gait.

Ah yeah, she haven't held any party for these few weeks due to our low savings. It's amazing that she could endure this much without loaning some money from bandits or loan sharks to party. Well, probably because I told her that our prize money would probably never come.

Though, the other reason why we could survive is also thanks to the subjugation quest for dangerous monsters appearing out of nowhere, netting us enough money to live. By now, the amount of monsters around this town is already decreased by a lot and there's no abnormal increase in them like in the beginning. Everyone speculated that those monsters were agitated or provoked to coming here, but still...

"Kazuma-san, we have a great news for you." Luna-san called after me.

Yes! Finally!

And for once, things went according to my keikaku[3] as I got my reward for slaying the demon king general Beldia. Getting 300 Million Eris sure felt unreal, but because of this, the zombie-like Aqua suddenly regains her vigor and promised to throw lots of party. Well, I hope she doesn't spend it recklessly and won't come for me with tons of debt.

After that, Megumin and Darkness came a bit late. From there, we split the bounty before saving them in the bank with me getting forty percent of it due to landing the finishing blow, Aqua getting thirty percent for her work of running around and aggro, Megumin got twenty five percent of it due to distracting Beldia while Darkness took five percent only(even then it's because we insist her to take it) because she doesn't do anything and don't deserve such reward. I feel really bad for her, but I think it's for the best or else I'd pity Beldia instead for having a moment of death right after seeing her shenanigans.

Also, there's strange thing happening from the side of government in that out of the blue, Lord Alderp the governor of this town who was renowned for being a corrupt and mean lord suddenly agreed to take the blame of failed transport instead of Lord Ignis and improved the livelihood of the townspeople. Because of this, rumors like he was saved by a goddess, punished by a goddess, given revelation from goddess, hit his head too hard, his son finally succeed in convincing him, etc spread like wildfire.

"Hey Kazuma~"

I wonder what really happened to him. Usually corrupt tyrants are really comfortable in their position or seek a better position and destroy any opposition to his rule, but for someone like him to change that quick is just- Well, I don't know the guy himself, so I can't exactly judge him correctly considering I'm a greenhorn[4] in this world.

Now, I think I should get going and find a better inn to live in.

"Kazuma!"

!?

Facing at the direction where that call came from, I saw Megumin pouting at me.

"What? It's just Megumin huh?" I muttered while scratching the back of my head.

Come to think of it, I barely accompany her in these few weeks for her explosion training. I wonder if she lost motivation due to cold or something else.

"Don't 'it's just Megumin huh?' me, Bakazuma, I've called you out but you keep spacing out like a fool!"

"Eh?"

Really? I could've swore that I'm just thinking about things for few seconds and I'm fairly reactive to people calling me out though.

"W-Well, sorry. What do you want to talk about Megumin?"

To my sheepish apology, she huffed before asking me to accompany her for upgrading her equipments.

Well, since this is still morning and all, I think it's fine before finding a better inn to live in, the one that doesn't make you feel awkward or horny because it doubles as a love hotel would be _far_ preferable.

With that, we leave the guild while wryly smiling at Aqua who started a party with adventurers there. Meanwhile, Darkness is gone again, having some business to do with Chris she said.

The place where we are heading to is the crafting district for her to upgrade her staff further. It wasn't that far from the guild, but not exactly close either as it was close to the town's gate.

Arriving at that place, I'd expect the place to be creepy and dark and filled with strange things since it's a place for wizards to buy their equipments or upgrading it. Turns out that I'm the moron for thinking such things as the place is fairly simple store with scrolls, orbs, potions, and magical wands/staff/stave/rod lined up with a fairly young woman with sleepy expression at the counter.

And it seems that upgrading her staff doesn't take much time. Though-

"Well, I already upgraded it to my utmost capability, but I can't upgrade it any further. If you want to upgrade it further, you should go to the town with better magic blacksmithing skill." The sleepy woman said while presenting Megumin with her newly upgraded staff.

Looking at it, I don't know what to say since I'm no magic user, but it sure looks kinda gaudy with those different colored gems attached and the texture of the wood being smoother than it previously is. But apparently, Megumin was amazed and even mutters out 'Kukuku, this is just the beginning of my staff's power. In due time, my power will overshadow this staff.' Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's excited for the fact that her staff could become more powerful despite the already powerful upgrade she did to it with a rather expensive cost, or is it? Again, I don't know much about the pricing of magical staff, so I don't know. But two hundred thousand Eris sure ain't cheap to me.

While thinking about that, I didn't realize someone barging into the shop until said person yelled loudly at the woman, snapping me out of my stupor.

"Owner-san! Do you have supplies of magic potions!? I need a lot of-"

Looking at the direction of that loud voice, my gaze met the person- No, the wizard girl I've encountered that night, but forgot to ask her name.

"Ah! You are!" x2

Both of us yelled at each other in unison.

"Who- Nevermind." Megumin muttered that when she saw the girl before pouting and turns to the other way to avoid the girl's gaze.

Eh? What's with her expression?

"You're Megumin, right!? It's Megumin, right!?"

Right after she heard Megumin mutters that, her surprised expression was no longer directed to me, but to Megumin. I wonder what's their relationship...

"I don't know, I don't care, my name is Megumin and I don't know who you are."

"That's cruel! It's me, Yunyun! We're a classmate and rival in magical arts!"

"I don't know, I definitely don't know anyone with the name Yunyun."

Right, she knew this Yunyun girl but pretending to not know. Just who is she until Megumin acts like this? I feel kinda bad for her.

"Hey, hey, don't be like that Megumin. She's the girl who saved Dust's party, you know?"

Megumin could only pout as I explain to her about Yunyun. Seriously, what did she or Yunyun do for her to act like a child? Talking about this and that about adventurer and all.

And finding out that surprisingly, this Megumin is actually the genius wizard of her class with Yunyun right behind her. That felt surreal considering her shenanigans and capability as a wizard who could only blow stuff up before collapsing from the aftereffect. I wonder if the school she went is a school for 'special' case or a genuine one, but I think it's the latter considering this Yunyun is comparatively saner than Megumin but can't shake the feeling that a tiny bit chance that the former isn't out of the question either, but I'd be rude to consider Yunyun as 'special' kid.

Though, the real matter is...

"Oh, I almost forgot! I have to stock up magic potions and other necessity!"

"What is it? Are you going somewhere or fighting some powerful monsters?" I asked.

"No, I'm going back to the Crimson Magic Clan's Village, my hometown. I need to assist them in combat against the incoming Mobile Fortress Destroyer whose path changed to our village."

"What!?" Megumin lets out uncharacteristically surprised shout.

And thus, not known to me that for today onward, my fate would be diverged far to what I should be.

 _To Be Continued..._

A/N:

Told ya that I'm not dead, but too busy since I'm entering my final term in uni and need to work on my papers. Also, Fate/Grand Order stuff as usual, in NA side, the translation is getting better and I'm having a blast on its latest event that broke a lot of fourth walls courtesy of the duo Nobu and Okita. Also, hooray for me getting Okita while not rolling for Scathach cause I'm saving for Jeanne Alter to create a Buster Meta Team in the future while in JP, nothing much aside from getting Merlin in his rate up recently(few months iirc). For some German trivia, I'm kinda in a break about it since I'm busy at the moment, but I'll try to add more of it later on. For the references:

[1] A combined words of Yowai(Not Yaoi) meaning weak and Kazuma, in his imagination, being mocked by Aqua as weak or spineless.

[2] Pretty much what horny teenager does when watching porn

[3] Plan and also a meme from Death Note's MC, Kira Yagami who loves to say it to the point of being memetic(Keikaku dori = All according to plan)

[4] An inexperienced person. Pretty much what you can call newbie or rookie

For this chapter, it looks kinda rushing the timeline, but I'm trying to pace it better later on since at this kind of pace, my plot ain't gonna get going. Thank you for following and favoring my fic to the point of surpassing the number of 300 and 500 each(Jesus Christ, thanks man), I'll try my best to improve this and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Goodbye!


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